The New Zealand team to compete at the 2012 World Men's Curling Championships in Switzerland in March has been announced.
Peter de Boer, Sean Becker, Scott Becker, Kenny Thomson, Phil Dowling and coach Peter Becker will represent New Zealand at the championships, with skip de Boer confident of success after the side's silver medal at the Pacific-Asia Championship in China this year.
The China success qualified New Zealand for the world championships for the first time since 2005.
"We really came on to our game towards the end of the China trip,'' de Boer said. "We have plenty of experience and tactical nous and will have relatively little pressure on us compared to some of the funded nations.''
He said he was delighted about finally playing on the world stage after narrowly missing out in the past _ he had twice been in the runner-up team at the Scottish national championships before moving to New Zealand. "I'm looking forward to taking on the best teams in the world and showing them that New Zealand curling is on the rise,'' he said. "I'm particularly excited about putting one over Scotland, that should be a cracker.''
All but one of the 12 countries competing in Switzerland are confirmed after last week's European Curling Championships. Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Czech Republic, Scotland, Germany and France qualified from Europe. They will join China and New Zealand from Pacific-Asia, Switzerland as hosts and Canada from the Americas. The final team will be the winner of the USA v Brazil challenge scheduled for late January.
The 2012 Men's World Curling Championship will be held in Basel, from March 31 to April 8. Nations will earn Olympic qualifying points at the 2012 and 2013 World Championships, with 10 places available at the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi, Russia.
