CURLING JAMAICA
Dec 2, 2024
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 2, 2024
Toronto, ON, Canada / Kingston, Jamaica – Jamaica began play today at the World Mixed Doubles
Qualification Event being held in Dumfries, Scotland.
The Jamaican team of Margot Shepherd-Spurgeon and Andrew Walker played their opening game at 7:30am (Jamaica Time) this morning against Hong Kong. Margot and Andrew, who are making their debut in World Curling Mixed Doubles competition, dropped an 8-4 decision to the more experienced Hong Kong side. Trailing 5-0 after 4 ends, Jamaica answered with two points in each of the 5th and 6th ends to narrow the score to 5-4. Hong Kong sealed the victory after using their “powerplay” to scored 2 points in the 7th end and stealing another in the 8th end.
Jamaica is right back in action at 2:30pm (Jamaica Time) today against Latvia.
About the World Mixed Doubles Qualification Event
This annual tournament is organized by World Curling (formerly the World Curling Federation) and
serves as a qualifier for the World Curling Mixed Doubles Championships.
The World Mixed Doubles Qualification Event involves 29 national teams and will be divided into four
groups for round-robin play as follows:
Group A | Group B | Group C | Group D |
Belgium Hong Kong, China Hungary Jamaica Latvia Romania Slovakia | Austria Ireland Kyrgyzstan Mexico Portugal Saudi Arabia Türkiye | Brazil Chinese Taipei England Greece Guyana Slovenia Spain | Finland India Lithuania New Zealand Philippines Poland Puerto Rico Ukraine |
The top two finishers from each group advance to a double-knockout playoff bracket, where the top
four teams will advance to the World Mixed Doubles Championships from April 26th to May 3rd, 2025 in Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada.
The complete round-robin schedule for Jamaica is as follows:
Date | Opponent | Start Time |
Monday Dec. 2, 2024 Monday Dec. 2, 2024 Tuesday Dec. 3, 2024 Wednesday Dec. 4, 2024 Wednesday Dec. 4, 2024 Thursday Dec. 5, 2024 | Hong Kong Latvia Hungary Belgium Romania Slovakia | 12:30pm local time (7:30am Jamaica Time) 7:30pm local time (2:30pm Jamaica Time) 12:30pm local time (7:30am Jamaica Time) 12:30pm local time (7:30am Jamaica Time) 7:30pm local time (2:30pm Jamaica Time) 12:30pm local time (7:30am Jamaica Time) |
About Jamaica’s Mixed Doubles Team
The duo of Margot Shepherd-Spurgeon and Andrew Walker won the right to represent Jamaica after
winning Curling Jamaica’s Mixed Doubles National Championship on February 24, 2024. A complete
recap of the National Championship can be found at: https://www.curlingjamaica.com/news-1/2024-
curling-jamaica-crowns-new-mixed-doubles-national-champions-
Andrew Walker was born and raised in Jamaica, and is an alumni of Wolmer’s Boys’ School. He is
currently a director at the Royal Canadian Curling Club in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Curling Jamaica’s home club. Andrew most recently represented Jamaica as a member of the Jamaican men’s national team that competed at the Pan Continental Championships last month.
Margot Shepherd-Spurgeon resides in the Greater Toronto Area and also represented Jamaica at the Pan Continental Championships, playing on both Jamaican women’s teams that captured the B-Division silver medal in 2023 and 2024.
Margot and Andrew have been playing together as a doubles team for two seasons, competing in two national championships and in the inaugural Jamaica Cup, a competitive tournament held earlier this year in January.
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. For more information, visit www.curlingjamaica.com
For more information about World Curling and to access live scores, visit the World Curling website at https://livescores.worldcurling.org/wmdqe
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For more information, please contact:
Ian Robertson at president@curlingjamaica.com
or Ben Kong at ben.jamaicacurling@gmail.com