New Zealand Curling's recent international run continued this weekend. After a best-ever fifth placing at the World Men's Championship, the NZ teams have also posted their best results at the World Senior Curling Championships over the weekend.

The NZ Senior Women finished fourth with a 5 win - 3 loss record, and the Men came in fourth from a 23-nation field.

On the opening day of the World Senior Curling Championships in Copenhagen, the New Zealand Senior Men carried on from where Peter de Boer's team left off a week earlier at the World Men's.

They created history in their afternoon match to record NZ's first win over any Scotland team at any World Championship event.

New Zealand 9, Canada 7

9 Apr 2012 – New Zealand's fifth place at the just-concluded World Men's Curling Championship 2012 has produced excellent results for our sport.

The 7 win - 4 loss record has secured some serious bragging rights – not the least of which were wins against all three medallists from the 2010 Winter Olympics, including inflicting the only loss suffered by the tournament-winning Canadians. Team New Zealand also came away with a flying start to their campaign to qualify for the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics.

The World Curling Federation has confirmed the 2014 Winter Olympic qualifying points earned in Basel, Switzerland. This Championship and the 2013 event in Victoria, BC, Canada are the only two where nations can gain automatic qualification for Sochi 2014.

Favourites Canada won the World Men's Curling Championship 2012, but they needed an extra end over Scotland to do so.

Scotland had a chance to win in the tenth, but a gentle hit from skip Tom Brewster didn't curl enough, and he ended uo removing one of his own stones as well as the target Canadian stone. Canadian skip Glenn Howard made no mistake with a draw to the 4-foot ring in the extra end to score the one he needed for a 9-8 win.

Sean Becker, vice-skip of the New Zealand men’s team, has won the 2012 World Curling Federation Collie Campbell Memorial Award.

	Sean Becker presented with the 2012 Collie Campbell Award by Chief Umpire Alan Stanfield. Photo - Richard Gray / WCF

Becker was selected for the award by fellow players at this year’s World Men’s Curling Championship in Basel, Switzerland. All participants at the Championship were invited to nominate a fellow competitor who, in their view, best exemplified the traditional values of skill, honesty, fair play, sportsmanship and friendship during the event.

Becker and his teammates Peter de Boer (skip), Scott Becker, Kenny Thomson and Phil Dowling finished fifth at the 2012 event – the best ever finish by a New Zealand team.

The New Zealand Senior Men's team of Hans Frauenlob, Lorne DePape, Al Langille and Pat Cooney likely exceeded their expectations during a recent practice match at Naseby's Maniototo Curling International rink.

Playing the seventh end their opponents (who will, according to tradition, remain anonymous) were behind on the scoreboard. Needing to score points, they played aggresively to generate a steal and ignored opposition stones in play.

Meet Team New Zealand - the 'Kiwis' are playing their first World Curling Championship in 7 years as they line up for their country in Basel, Switzerland. They qualified by finishing second in the 2011 Pacific Asia Curling Championships in Nanjing, China.

World Curling TV's Alison Walker went to find out more about the team, their aspirations and curling in the southern hemisphere.

TV One's Close Up article on 19th March featuring the Becker family introduced the country to the New Zealand Men's foray to the 2012 Men's Curling Championship at the end of the month.

If you missed the program you can catch up thanks to TVNZ On Demand.

NZ Women vs hosts Korea. Photo © Korea Curling Assn

3 Feb 2012 – Japan won the Women's gold at the 2012 Pacific-Asia Junior Curling Championships at the Hwasan Ice Rink in Jeonju, South Korea on Thursday beating Korea 3-2 in the final. The Chinese Men had a 3-2 win over their Korean hosts in their gold medal match.

The New Zealand Junior Men and Women both finished 4th in the Double Round Robin and did not qualify for the medal rounds.

The winners are not only crowned 2012 Pacific-Asia Junior Curling Champions, but they also secure the World Curling Federation Pacific-Asia places at the 2012 World Junior Curling Championships which will take place in Östersund, Sweden from 3-11 March.