Brazil Calls out U.S.


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Brazil Calls out U.S.

Aug 13 , 2008

Each year at the World Curling Championship, there are two teams from the Americas: Canada and the united States. But that could all change this year. For the first time ever, a South American team is pushing to qualify for the Worlds. Brazil's governing body of curling has extended a challenge to the United States for their spot at the 2009 World Championship.

Canada, which holds the other "Americas" spot at the worlds, cannot miss the worlds this year since, as last year's winning team, Canada automatically qualifies for the worlds. But for the United States, they have no such security. They must accept Brazil's challenge and fight for their berth in next April's championship.

President of the World Curling Federation, Les Harrison, is quite excited about the news. In a press release, he said "The Brazilian challenge marks another milestone in the development of world curling [...] we wish both competing member associations and their athletes the best in their qualification efforts."

Though Brazil is not commonly thought of as a curling hot spot, they like their chances. Both mens and womens teams from the United States had a disappointing showing last season, with Craig Brown and Debbie McCormick both failing to make it to the playoff round.

Eric Maleson is the president of the Brazilian Ice Sports Federation, which has been a member of the World Curling Federation since 1998. "We believe we are ready," Maleson said, "We are confident that this will take curling in Brazil and in the Pan-American continent to a new level."

The challenge will take place over three days in January of 2009 in the form of a best-of-five series.