In a sport in which experience counts, China's young curling team is going to have to learn fast to reach its goal of a medal at the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympic Games.
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At last year's Turin Winter Olympics, Scott Baird from the US men's curling team became the oldest Winter Olympian in history, aged 54 years and 282 days, while in Canada, the dominant force in the sport, the average age of participants is 39.9 years.

But in China, where the sport has little tradition, all hopes rest on a group of athletes no older than 25.

"In countries where curling is very popular, people pick up the sport when they are young and play for their national teams once they have rich experience," explained Li Dongyan, team leader of the Chinese women's curling team for the sixth Asian Winter Games in Changchun.

"But we are just at the starting line. Since few older people in China know curling, we had to set up a team full of young people."

The oldest player in Li's team is skipper Liu Yin, 25, while the youngest Sun Yue is just 20. In the men's team, the youngest member, Zheng Jialiang, is just 18.

"Since curling requires great mental strength, old players may have better control in competitions, so it is more suitable for older people," said Li.

"But in China few adults know it, so we have to train players from the young generation. All the people in the national team are among the first group of people that learned curling in China."

The sport, in which players seek to slide heavily polished granite stones across ice as near to the target, or "house", as possible, originated in 16th Century Scotland. It did not come to China until 1995, when a group of experts from Japan and Canada provided training and equipment. The Chinese national team was formed in 2000, but there are still only around 100 curling players in the country.

"At present, there are altogether more than 100 people who can play curling in China, some of whom are not professional players or are at a low level," Li told China Daily. "Since few people know the sport in China, it's hard to involve more people in it."

In face of the challenges, the achievements of the national team in competitions have been awesome.

Encouraging progress

At the 2005 Women's Curling World Championships the Chinese team finished seventh on debut. At the event last year they moved up to fifth. They also won the Pan-Pacific curling championships late last year to qualify for this year's worlds, while their male counterparts finished third.

"Curling requires skill and wisdom, but not physical strength, so it should be suitable for Chinese people," Li explained.

Li attributed the Chinese team's rapid progress to training abroad. The men's team have also hired a Canadian, Randy Perry, as their head coach.

"Since 2004 we have sent the team to train in Canada, the powerhouse of curling, for several months a year, and they've taken part in competitions there," said Li. "That's the reason why they have made great progress."

But, Li warned, a lack of facilities is holding the sport back.

Li said there is only one professional-standard curling facility in China, which has been just built in Beijing's Huairou suburb, and most players still have to train in ice rinks.

"Based on a normal ice rink, it costs about one million yuan ($128,600) to build a professional curling venue. As it is not a popular sport in China, few people want to invest," said Li.

In order to improve the level of curling in the country, Chinese winter sports officials are going to hit the road to raise the sport's profile.

"We plan to start promotion in colleges and universities in Beijing," said Yu Tiande, head of curling at China's Winter Sports Administrative Center. "We will hold some competitions among those universities, which will help a lot in the sport's development."

Yu said he was looking for sponsors to help take the sport forward.

"Some companies, especially companies from southern China, have expressed their willingness to invest in curling venues. As more venues are built, I believe it will become known to more people."

Despite the shortage of facilities, the ambitious team have set their sights on a medal at the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympic Games.

"China's curling team will strive for a medal in Vancouver in three years' time," said Li. "But for a gold medal, I think we'll need to wait another four years after Vancouver."

(China Daily February 2, 2007)