At Winter Games NZ the curling will take place in the Southern Hemisphere's premiere indoor curling centre in Naseby. The format for this event is a fours competition (teams of four players, both men and women) and also a mixed doubles competition which is relatively new to competitive curling and will be one of the few international mixed doubles events in the world. The New Zealand team of Sean and Bridget Becker are the current silver medallist in the World Mixed Doubles event.
Eight teams will compete in a round- robin format, then semis and finals in each category of the curling event, with countries from all over the world invited.
Round robin competition all day
The ancient Scottish game of curling dates back to when games were played on frozen lochs and marshes and the traditional style of the game is still played at every opportunity during the winters in Central Otago, New Zealand. The game has since evolved into a sophisticated and precise sport competed for at top international level throughout the World and is a premier event at the Winter Olympics.
The game is played on ice, and two teams take turns delivering an 18.6kg stone towards a series of concentric circles called the House. The object is to get as many of your stones as close to the centre of the House as possible while eliminating your opposing teams stones. When team members are not delivering their stone they work as sweepers for their team. This helps the stone travel further and also keeps it on a straighter path thus allowing the sweepers to control the outcome of the shot to some degree.
