CURLING:
The Aussie team won seven of their eight round robin matches before falling in their semi and then playoff for third to miss progression to next April’s World Championships in Las Vegas.
“Our round robin was fantastic with the team playing great and fighting hard to beat some high-profile teams,” Dean Hewitt said.
“It was a testament to our resilience and experience considering we didn't have an ideal lead up to Pacific’s with a couple health and injury concerns and some important work commitments.
“Putting ourselves in the opportunity to make a World Championships (having a shot to beat China in the semis) is all we can ask for and something we talked about prior to the PACCs. Although it's still difficult to swallow since we were so close, it's something we have to accept and build on for next year.”
While the end goal was not reached the side claimed seven victories in ten matches and are taking the positives from the tournament.
“This is by far our best showing at the PACCs for a few years now and shows we are heading in the right direction.
“Curling is a small sport in Australia and is tough competing against fully professional teams. Professional teams are now curling almost every day of the year whilst we struggle to even get on curling ice for 20 days across the year.
“But after a high-performance camp in New Zealand, we have learnt new ways to make use of the time we get on and off the ice to maximise our potential and preparation leading up to competitions.”
The team of Hewitt, Hugh Millikin, Ian Palangio, Christopher Ordog and Jay Merchant will now take a bit of time to figure out what’s next for each of them in the sport they love.
“It’s still early days since the competition and we haven’t talked about the future yet.
“The next official competition for us is likely the National Championships which takes place in June next year.
“A few of us have already expressed our drive to qualify for the 2022 Winter Olympics (and even 2026) and will require a lot of dedication from players such as numerous trips overseas as there is no dedicated curling ice in Australia.
“It’s a very big commitment for curlers in Australia to try to qualify for the Olympics, with large expenses out of our own pocket to train in the northern hemisphere and taking months off of work to compete against these professional teams.”
Matt Bartolo
olympics.com.au
