New Zealand Qualifies for World Championship

I am rather excited to report that expat Scots Peter de Boer and Kenny Thomson, playing with Scott and Sean Becker with Phil Dowling as alternate and Peter Becker as coach, have qualified New Zealand for the 2012 Men's World Championship!

At the Pacific-Asia Championships in Nanjing, China, the Kiwis beat Korea in two straight games today in what was effectively a best of three semifinal, after their split of round robin games left both teams starting semis with one win and one loss, this record from the double round robin carrying forward to the best of five playoffs.

New Zealand now plays China in the Gold medal match tomorrow, Saturday, the Chinese men having beaten the Australians in the other set of matches. Both teams though are through to the World Men's Championship in Basel, March 31 - April 8.

Read more here. And here, on the New Zealand Curling Association website.

There is a gallery of photos, courtesy of the Chinese Curling Association, on the World Curling Federation website here. That's where the top photo is from, with Kenny on the left, and Pete in the centre. Scott Becker is nearest the camera.

Pacific-Asia Curling Championships

Now, I have to make an apology. Particularly to Peter de Boer's mum. You see, when I posted on Friday (here) that the Pacific-Asia Curling Championships were about to get underway in China last Saturday, I said we would be looking out for the fortunes of New Zealand as Scottish expat Kenny Thomson was on the team. I had thought that Pete was going to be involved, but the team list I downloaded from the WCF link had no mention of him.

I was rushing to get on my way to Aberdeen, so made a mental note to follow this up ... and promptly forgot about it until my return home yesterday afternoon when I looked to see how the Championships were progressing. By this time, an updated team list was available for download and, sure enough, there's Pete as the New Zealand skip, with Sean Becker as third, Scott Becker as second, Kenny Thomson at lead and Phil Dowling as alternate. Peter Becker is the coach.

How are they doing? It's been a case of win some, lose some. All the results are linked to from this page. And there's a good summary of all the results on the New Zealand Curling Association website here. The teams play a double round robin, and the top four go to playoffs. Two countries qualify for the World Championship in Basel.

There are some action shots in a gallery on the Chinese Curling Association's website, see here. That's where the top photo comes from. There's also webcast footage from the Nanjing Olympic Center here. I haven't yet found a photo of Pete or Kenny in action - let me know if you do!

Thanks to blogally Morag Wellman for passing on the info that Pete's mum is very proud that her son is representing New Zealand! I'm sure all who know Pete and Kenny concur with this sentiment.

Top photo is of the Chinese women's team (in their game against the New Zealand women) from the gallery on this page. I'm sorry I do not have the photographer's name.

Pacific-Asia Curling Championships

The 2011 Pacific-Asia Curling Championships get underway tomorrow at the Olympic Sports Center in Nanjing, China. Six men’s and four women’s teams from the Pacific-Asia region will take part in the event with the finals on Saturday, November 26. The schedule of play and team lineups can be downloaded from here.

In the women’s competition, teams from China, Japan, Korea and New Zealand will play to secure the two qualification places for the Ford World Women’s Curling Championship 2012 in Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada, March 17 - 25, 2012.

In the men’s event, teams from Australia, China, Chinese Taipei, Japan, Korea and New Zealand are looking for the two places at the World Men’s Curling Championship 2012 in Basel, Switzerland, March 31 - April 8, 2012. Good luck to Scottish expat Kenny Thomson who is lead for team New Zealand.

You can read more about the event here.