July 10, 2008

Continental Cup update

Team World for this year's Continental Cup of Curling, which goes ahead December 18-21 in Camrose, Alberta, was announced in June, see here. David Murdoch of Scotland, Thomas Ulsrud of Norway, Fengchun Wang of China, Anette Norberg of Sweden, Mirjam Ott of Switzerland, and Bingyu Wang of China are the World squad.

The North American side was announced yesterday - four teams from Canada and two teams from the United States. The Canadian contingent comprises teams skipped by Jennifer Jones of Winnipeg, Stefanie Lawton of Saskatoon, Edmonton's Kevin Martin and Kevin Koe. The USA teams will be skipped by current national champions Debbie McCormick and Craig Brown of Madison, Wisconsin.

Jones and Martin are of course the current world champions. Jones, a two-time Canadian champion, was a member of the winning North America side at the 2007 Cup, while Martin, a three-time Canadian champion and 2002 Olympic silver medallist, played in the inaugural Continental Cup in Regina in 2002.

Lawton and Koe earned their first Continental Cup berths by winning the 2008 Strauss Canada Cup in Kamloops, British Columbia.

McCormick, the 2003 world champion, will be making her fourth Cup appearance for North America, after competing in 2003, 2006 and 2007, while Brown will be playing in his first Cup.

Russ Howard will be the captain of the North American side. Jim Waite will be the coach.

The Continental Cup website is here.

Top: USA's Debbie McCormick. Above: Kevin Martin and David Murdoch. Photos by Hugh Stewart.

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