Open
There are four groups. Scotland is in Group C and will face:
ARGENTINA
BERMUDA
CANADA
ITALY
KENYA
MOROCCO
ROMANIA
RUSSIA
SINGAPORE
SLOVAKIA
SOUTH AFRICA
SWEDEN
THAILAND
TRINIDAD & TOBAGO
The top four will qualify for the knock-out stages and I expect Italy, Sweden, Russia, Argentina, South Africa, Canada, Singapore and Romania to be competing for these places. So I think the Scotland team should set a target of a top ten finish as the 'stretch' goal for the event.
Women
There are three groups. Scotland is in Group A and will face:
Argentina
Australia
Canada
Chinese Taipei
Egypt
England
Guadeloupe
Jordan
Kenya
Poland
Russia
Spain
Turkey
The top five will qualify for the knock-out stages, together with the best sixth across the three groups, I expect England, Poland, Russia, Turkey and Canada to be competitive, with Argentina, Australia, Chinese Taipei and Scotland following. Making the knock-out stages should be the 'stretch' goal for the team.
Seniors
There are two groups. Scotland is in Group A and will face:
AUSTRALIA
BELGIUM
BRAZIL
CANADA
EGYPT
ENGLAND
FRANCE
GERMANY
HONG KONG
INDIA
INDONESIA
ISRAEL
MOROCCO
SINGAPORE
SOUTH AFRICA
TURKEY
The top eight will qualify for the knock-out stages. Predicting the performance of in the seniors is fraught with difficulty as the teams change a lot, but I predict Australia, Brazil, Belgium, England, France, Germany, Scotland, Indonesia and Turkey will be leading the qualifying places. After their success in the Europeans I am going to set the Scotland Seniors a very tough 'stretch' goal of making the semifinals, even though I think making the quarter-finals would be a tremendous achievement. Success begets success!
I'll be following all the teams' progress from Friday 10 August.
