New Zealand Curling

The 2013 Annual General Meeting of the New Zealand Curling Association Inc will be held at the Oturehua Hall, Oturehua, on Friday 10 May 2013 from 8.00pm.

The build-up to December's Winter Olympics qualifier for the New Zealand Men's curling team started in Japan last weekend at the Karuizawa International Championship.

Skip Peter de Boer described their fourth placing as "a slightly disappointing finish as we had every chance of winning the event. However we had 7 games against strong opposition giving us plenty to work on over the coming months."

Senior Men's silver medalists Team New Zealand: Hans Frauenlob, Dan Mustapic, Lorne DePape, Al Langille and Pat Cooney – Photo: WCF / Richard Gray

New Zealand curlers will bring home their first ever medal from a World Senior Championship.

The Senior Men's side of Hans Frauenlob, Dan Mustapic, Lorne DePape, Allan Langille and Pat Cooney have won the silver medal at the 2013 tournament in Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada.

Updated 24 April – The pathway to 2014 Winter Olympic qualification has been confirmed for the New Zealand Men's Curling team. They will compete at an 8-team Olympic Qualifying Event event in Füssen, Germany in December, and the top two nations from that event will earn the final two berths at Sochi next year.

Ten teams will compete at the Winter Olympics in Sochi next February. The Russian hosts are automatic entrants, as are the seven teams with the most qualifying points from the 2012 and just-completed 2013 World Men's championships - Canada, Sweden, Scotland (for Great Britain), Norway, Denmark, China and Switzerland.

All concentration from 2013 winners Warren Dobson and Kenny Thomson

High scoring ends and plenty of stones in play can make Doubles an exciting game for both players and spectators, and so it proved at the season-opening MCI Open Doubles tournament in Naseby last weekend.

Teams played in 2 pools through the weekend, and the two unbeaten sides met in the final on Sunday afternoon. And it was the pairing of Kenny Thomson and Warren Dobson who eventually prevailed over the NZ Mixed Doubles team of Hans Frauenlob and Natalie Thurlow.

Photo: WGNZ/Getty Images

Lake Wanaka, 18 March 2013 – The third Winter Games NZ will feature no less than seven World Cup events plus an elite international curling tournament as the world's best snow sports athletes head to New Zealand's spectacular Southern Alps from 15-25 August.

One of the top five winter sports events in the world, this year's Games is once again essential Olympic preparation for many international teams as they prepare for the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia.

Naseby, 10 Feb 2013 – On behalf of the New Zealand Curling Association and all curlers in New Zealand, I would like to invite international teams to come to the southern hemisphere and enjoy curling both indoors at our international rink in Naseby and outside on the natural ice and artificial ice in this area.

This is the third time we have hosted the NZ Winter Games. We are a small nation and our curling population is keen to host you. If you would like to experience Traditional Curling on natural ice, the best time of year for this is July and we would be happy to host teams before the Winter Games in August.

Central Otago and especially Naseby is the heart of New Zealand curling; we look forward to meeting you on ice.

James Hazlett President New Zealand Curling Association