Curling team busy preparing for World Championship appearance

With only a few weeks left until the start of Guyana’s historic first appearance in the World Mixed Doubles Curling Championship in Östersund, Sweden, in April, the national team of Rayad Husain and Farzana Hussain have been busy preparing.

Recently, the duo competed in the Benson Mortgages Oshawa Mixed Doubles Cashspiel at the Oshawa Curling Club. After starting the event slowly with two losses, the team rattled off three straight wins, including a victory over Hong Kong to claim the “C” event title.

The following weekend took them to Stroud Curling Club for a one day event. The tricky conditions led to a defeat in the first game against Israel before making the adjustments for two decisive victories and fourth place in the event. 

Finally, the Guyanese pair played the World Curling Tour Listowel Curling Club Mixed Doubles Cashspiel, which resulted in a 2-1 record in their pool — the lone loss to recent Canadian Mixed Doubles Olympic Trials participants Nicole and Tyler Stewart by a 5:6 score.  

Due to a number of teams tied on the same record in the event, the team played the talented local juniors from Listowel in a tiebreaker, but eventually lost a tight battle 7:8.