Kelowna, British Columbia, March 16, 2001. The Kelowna Curling Club will host the 2002 World Junior Curling Championships, it was announced today by the World Curling Federation (WCF).
The 2002 World Juniors, which brings together 10 men’s and 10 women’s teams, will be staged March 23-31. It’s the first time since 1998 that Canada has staged the World Juniors, when it was held in Thunder Bay, Ontario.
In making the announcement, Roy Sinclair, President of the WCF, said, ‘It’s my pleasure to announce that Kelowna has been selected to host the 2002 World Junior Curling Championships. Canada has always demonstrated a great ability to stage successful curling events and we look forward to showcasing the best junior curlers in the world here in a city which we know is wonderfully supportive of the sport.’
Last December, the World Curling Federation and Canadian Curling Association reached an agreement whereby Canada would stage the 2002 and 2004 World Juniors and 2003 and 2005 Ford Worlds, at cities and venues to be announced. The selection of Kelowna for the 2002 World Juniors is the first site to be confirmed.
‘This is a tremendous opportunity to show the world that B.C. communities are excellent sites for international sports events,’ said Rod Harris, President and CEO of Tourism B.C. ‘Through our new WorldHost Program, communities throughout the province, such as Kelowna, are receiving financial assistance to produce winning bids for and stage major events.’
WorldHost is sponsored by Tourism B.C. and the Vancouver Whistler 2010 Bid Corporation, the group that’s working to win the right to host the Olympic Winter Games and Paralympic Games in 2010.
Kelowna has previously hosted a number of provincial and national curling championships, the most recent being the 1999 Karcher Canadian Juniors at the curling club. The co-chairs of that event, two-time world champion Rick Folk and Kerrylyn Richard, will once again take on the same roles for the 2002 World Juniors. The city also staged the 1968 Brier, 1986 world women’s and 1989 Scott Tournament of Hearts. British Columbia has hosted one previous world junior men’s championship, that in 1987 in Victoria, while the 1998 Ford World Curling Championships were in Kamloops.
The 2001 edition of the World Juniors (March 15-25) is currently underway in Ogden, Utah, at the same venue which will also be the site of next year’s curling competition at the Winter Olympics, when, once again, curling will be an official medal sport.
Since 1989, when the men’s and women’s events were held at the same site, four Canadian cities have played host to the World Juniors: Markham, Ontario (1989), Portage la Prairie, Manitoba (1990), Red Deer, Alberta (1996) and Thunder Bay, Ontario (1998).
Canada has won a leading 10 men’s world junior titles since the championship began in 1975. In fact, it has won three world titles in succession, two by Ottawa’s John Morris and last year when Kelowna’s Brad Kuhn won in Geising, Germany.
Canada has also won a leading six women’s crowns since the competition began in 1988. However, New Brunswick’s Melissa McClure is the last skip to do so, in 1998 in Thunder Bay.
With the Kelowna announcement, curling’s 2002 Season of Champions schedule is complete. It begins with the Canadian Mixed in Halifax, Nova Scotia, January 5-13, followed by the Karcher Juniors, January 19-27 in Summerside, PEI.
The Canadian Seniors are next, from February 2-10 in St. Thomas, Ontario. The Scott Tournament of Hearts will be played February 23-March 3 in Brandon, Manitoba followed by the Nokia Brier, March 9-17 in Calgary, Alberta. After the World Juniors in Kelowna, the Season of Champions concludes with the Ford Worlds in Bismarck, North Dakota, April 6-14.
For further information please contact:
Hakan Sundstrom
Media Relations Officer
World Curling Federation
Tel: 46 8 605 64 34
Fax: 46 8 604 70 78
e-mail: edvin01@attglobal.net