Curling team campaign ends at World Mixed Doubles Championship

By Avenash Ramzan

Guyana’s Curling team had a tough final match against the Czech Republic on Thursday, losing 1-10 in the World Mixed Doubles Curling Championship in Sweden.

The team of siblings Rayad and Farzana Hussain were outplayed by Zuzana Hajkova and Tomas Paul in their final round-robin Group E match on the rink.

It was Guyana’s fourth defeat, to go along with three victories over Austria (9-6), Ireland (11-4) and Brazil (6-3). Guyana finished fifth in the group of eight, their defeats coming against world number one ranked Mixed Doubles nation Canada (3-9), Korea (0-11), Germany (6-8) and the Czech Republic.

While Guyana did not advance to the playoff, the country had an overall ranking of 24 out of the 40 countries present at the conclusion of the group stage. Sixteen countries made the cut for the playoff.

Rayad Hussain, speaking exclusively to News Room from Sweden on Thursday afternoon, shared his thoughts on Guyana’s performance in the country’s maiden appearance in an international Curling championship.

“The experience here at our first World Championship had its highs and lows. We were honoured to wear the Guyana colours, and hoped that we could do the country proud on the world stage. Although our finish wasn’t what we wanted in the end, we fought hard and had a chance for the playoffs,” Hussain said.

He added, “We learned a lot of lessons this week which we will use to train and work hard on for future years to achieve bigger targets. As a self-funded team without a coach here, we had to overcome many struggles and so we are proud with how well we showed under these circumstances. We are truly grateful for the support and blessings from the Guyanese people, and how they’ve embraced our team in this new sport for Guyana. Thank you Guyana! We will be back and better than ever!”

The Guyana Curling Federation was formed in June 2016 and the Hussain siblings, based in Canada, are the only two active players currently attached to the body.

With the performance in Sweden, the Federation is hoping the sport will catch on in Guyana and more persons would become eligible to represent the country in the future.