CURLING JAMAICA
Dec 6, 2023
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Toronto, ON, Canada / Kingston, Jamaica – Jamaica’s Mixed Doubles Curling team won its final two games of the World Mixed Doubles Qualification Tournament in Dumfries, Scotland to close out the Caribbean nation’s first entry in mixed doubles at a World Curling Federation sanctioned event.
Team Jamaica, comprised of Madeleine Spurgeon and Ian Robertson, defeated Wales 12-5 in the morning session on December 5, 2023, and just hours later earned an 11-2 victory over Portugal in the afternoon draw.
In the morning game, Jamaica jumped out to a 4-0 lead over the Welsh duo of Laura Beever and Garry Coombs after scoring 2 points in each of the first two ends. Wales responded in the third end by calling a “power play” and narrowing the score to a 4-2 Jamaica lead, but Jamaica called its power play in the fourth end and scored 5 points to put the game out of reach. In the seventh end, with Jamaica leading 9-5, Ian executed a rare triple takeout to remove three Wales stones from play with one shot, allowing Madeleine to draw her last stone to score 3 points and prompting Wales to concede the game.
In the afternoon game, Jamaica faced the Portugal team of Antonieta Martins Ethier and Vitor Santos. The first half of the game was a low scoring, closely contested game with Jamaica holding a 3-2 lead after four ends. In the fifth end, with Portugal possessing the “Hammer” (throwing the last stone of the end), Jamaica adjusted tactics and played a more aggressive game, stealing 4 points to take a 7-2 lead. Portugal conceded the game after the seventh end.
Said Curling Jamaica founder and director Ben Kong: “On behalf of Curling Jamaica, we are very proud of Ian and Madeleine for representing Jamaica well in our very first world championship qualifier for Mixed Doubles Curling. Our team did so with no previous international Mixed Doubles experience and had limited resources to prepare for this tournament. To secure two wins in our first appearance at this level is a big step forward for this program.”
Jamaica finished the round-robin with a record of 2 wins, 4 losses in a tough Group B and did not qualify for the knockout phase of the tournament. Prior to their victories over Wales and Portugal, Jamaica lost its first four games to Poland, Austria, France and China respectively.
Two of the teams from Group B, China and France, finished in the top four along with Germany and New Zealand to advance to the World Mixed Doubles Championships in 2024.
The final standings after the round robin were as follows (team with win-loss record):
Group A | Group B | Group C | Group D |
Germany 6-0* Ireland 4-2* India 3-3 Latvia 3-3 Ukraine 3-3 Chinese Taipei 2-4 Kyrgyzstan 0-6 | China 5-1* France 5-1* Poland 4-2 Austria 3-3 Jamaica 2-4 Portugal 1-5 Wales 1-5 | Hungary 5-0* Hong Kong 3-2* Guyana 3-2 England 2-3 Mexico 2-3 Slovenia 0-5 | Finland 5-0* New Zealand 3-2* Belgium 3-2 Lithuania 2-3 Slovakia 2-3 Brazil 2-3 |
* Qualified for knockout stage
All competitive players in the Curling Jamaica program will now focus on competitions at the Dundas Valley Golf & Curling Club in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada taking place in early 2024:
Jamaica Cup Mixed Doubles Cashspiel: January 20-21, 2024 (open invite)
Jamaica National Team Playdowns: February 24, 2024
International Friendly Matches: February 25, 2024 (invitation only)
About Curling Jamaica: Curling Jamaica is the sole governing body of the winter sport of Curling in Jamaica, and currently operates in Ontario, Canada, with corporate registered head offices in Toronto, Ontario and Kingston, Jamaica. Players are based in Canada, Scotland and the United States. For further information about Curling Jamaica, visit www.curlingjamaica.com
-30-
For more information, please contact:
Ben Kong: ben.jamaicacurling@gmail.com
or Ian Robertson: president@curlingjamaica.com