After Aussie mixed doubles Tahli Gill and Dean Hewitt’s qualification for the Beijing Winter Olympics – Australia’s first-ever participation in Olympic curling – interest in the sport across Australia has grown sky-high, especially in Canberra.

“We’ve been approached by a number of former international and national level curlers who have made the national capital their home, and who have not had any opportunities to throw a rock with the absence of organised curling in Canberra,” ACT Ice Sports Federation (ACTISF) president Tony Prescott said today.

“We’ve reached out to the Australian Curling Federation to assist us with establishing a curling presence in Canberra in advance of the construction of a new twin-sheet ice sports centre – and it’s no surprise they’ve jumped at the invitation,” Mr Prescott said.

The sport of curling is widely recognised as the world’s fastest growing winter sport. Its first Australian presence was in 1933 in Melbourne, but it wasn’t until 1984 that the national Australian Curling Federation (ACF) was established, eventually expanding its reach to Perth, Melbourne, Sydney, and Brisbane.

“Expansion of curling into Canberra would see a huge boost not only for our Australian curlers but also lead to an increase in the number of people wishing to participate in the sport,” ACF president Kim Forge said.

“The Pacific-Asia region in particular has had an influx of new countries joining the World Curling Federation and adding a new association in the ACT to develop our great sport would strengthen Australia’s competition and further grow our activities,” Ms Forge said.

While Canberra’s ice sports community awaits the outcome of the ACT Government’s final deliberations for the planned new twin-sheet ice sports centre in Tuggeranong, the ACTISF is already planning a range of activities and programs intended to grow ice sports well into the future.

“With the creation and establishment of both an ACT Curling Association and the new ice sports centre in Tuggeranong, we would expect to see greater opportunities for Canberra to host a variety of curling events, from grass roots social competition right through to the elite level,” Mr Prescott said.

The Australian curling community currently travels to New Zealand every year for its national championships.

“In the absence of a dedicated curling capability in Australia, we have no alternative,” Ms Forge said. “However, the new ice sports centre in Canberra will be on our radar to regularly host not only our national championships and will also strengthen our position to host international curling events, including world championships.”

Meanwhile, the ice sports federation will explore opportunities to host curling exhibitions as well as stage curling-related development activities to establish and grow the sport in Canberra.

“Even though this is curling where they throw rocks on the ice, we’re most definitely not between a rock and a hard place on this one; with the new ice sports centre, curling is coming to Canberra,” Mr Prescott said.

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