Curling: NZ juniors have chance for first champs

The New Zealand men's junior curling team will play Korea on Wednesday for the right to attend the World Junior Curling Championships for the first time.

After upsetting hosts China 6-5 on the ice in the first round on Saturday , and wins against Korea and Japan today, NZ ended the round robin format tied with Japan at the Pacific Junior Curling Champs in Harbin, China.

NZ will play Korea again on Wednesday in the 2nd/3rd playoff match. The winner will play China for gold and the right to compete at the World Junior Champs in Vancouver, Canada in March.

This would be the first time that any NZ Junior team would qualify to compete at the World Junior Curling Champs, said Fred Newman, manager of the Naseby Indoor Curling Rink.

The match will be played at 9am local time, which is 2pm NZT.

Curling is similar to bowls and shuffleboard, played by two teams of four players on a sheet of carefully prepared ice.

Teams take turns sliding heavy, polished granite stones down the ice towards the target. Two sweepers with brooms accompany each rock to help direct the stones to their resting place.