Canada Wins Opening Game at World Mixed Doubles Championship

Canadian Mixed Curling champions Dean Hicke and Chantelle Eberle, of the Tartan Curling Club in Regina, posted a 9-5 win in their first game at the 2012 World Mixed Doubles Curling Championship which got underway today in Erzurum, Turkey. Hicke and Eberle, who won a playoff against their Saskatchewan teammates, Jason and Colleen Ackerman, for the Mixed Doubles berth, join 26 other Mixed Doubles teams from around the world.

National Team Coach Jim Waite and Team Canada Mixed Doubles team Chantelle Eberle and Dean Hicke (Photo courtesy WCF)

This is the fifth edition of the event since its inauguration in Vierumäki, Finland in 2008 and the first time that Turkey, which joined the World Curling Federation in 2009, has hosted a WCF World Curling Championship. The 2012 event is taking place in the Milli Piyango Curling Arena in Erzurum, Eastern Turkey which hosted the curling competition at the 2011 Winter University Games (Universiade). Team Canada arrived in Turkey on Thursday – without their luggage, reports National Team Coach Jim Waite – but they  were able to retrieve everything the next day, including their broom bag. Since arrival, curlers and coach have been exploring the surrounding area and getting acclimatized. On Sunday, the teams had a chance to get in some practice on the ice before the start of the competition Monday. Waite says the Milli Piyango Curling Arena is one of the most beautiful he has ever seen. The 1100-seat facility has a soaring 50-foot ceiling and five sheets of dedicated curling ice. In Monday’s opening game against Finland, Hicke and Eberle scored a deuce in the first end, then stole the next three ends, finishing after seven ends with a 9-5 victory. Curling fans around the world are able to follow live coverage of the event via the World Curling Federation’s YouTube Channel www.youtube.com/WorldCurlingTV which is embedded onto the homepage of the event website www.wmdcc2012.curlingevents.com. In a new venture for this season, World Curling Federation Championship action has been live streamed globally through YouTube. News, live scores, image galleries and video highlights are available on the event website: www.wmdcc2012.curlingevents.com