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PH curling team eyes spot in 2026 Winter Olympics

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ABS-CBN News

<div><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1721438377321Curling Team 4.jpg" style="width:900px" class="fr-fic fr-dib fr-fil"/>Philippine Curling Team. Handout photo</div>MANILA -- Can a team from a tropical country excel in an ice sport like curling?That’s what the Philippine National Curling Team –- composed of four Fil-Swiss players -- is out to prove when it goes through the preparations of vying for a slot in the 2026 Winter Olympic Games in Milan, Italy.Alan Frei, Filipino-Swiss entrepreneur and spokesman of the team, said the Philippine men’s squad, bagged a silver medal in the B-Division of the Pan Continental Curling Championships in Kelowna, Canada in 2023.The team aims to repeat the feat this October in Alberta to move up to the A-Division in the 2025 championships. The top two teams there get guaranteed spots in the <span data-darkreader-inline-bgcolor="" data-darkreader-inline-color="" id="isPasted" style="color:rgb(65, 65, 65);letter-spacing:normal;orphans:2;text-align:left;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;widows:2;word-spacing:0px;-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;white-space:normal;background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255);text-decoration-thickness:initial;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-color:initial;float:none;display:inline !important;--darkreader-inline-color:#bfb9b1;--darkreader-inline-bgcolor:#181a1b">2026 Winter Olympics in Italy.Frei, a relative newcomer to curling, joined the Filipino team in March 2023, a year after he sold his Swiss e-commerce business and decided “to become an Olympian”.Sharing his dream are teammates Christian Haller, a two-time world junior championship medalist, and brothers Marc and Enrico Pfister who previously competed for Switzerland in world curling championships.All Swiss-born like Frei, Haller, and the Pfister brothers are eligible to play for the country because of their Filipino mothers.“The sport of curling is like playing chess on ice. It’s a combination of strategy and physical skill. We have a huge advantage in the strategy part because we have the experience of the three guys who have played on the world stage,” said Frei.To test their skills further, the National Men’s Curling Team will be competing in an off-season tournament this August, the Baden Master’s in Switzerland where they will face World’s No. 1 Italy in their first game. Currently placed at 51st in the men’s rankings of the World Curling Member Association, Frei said the team is excited to play Italy so they can gauge exactly where they stand.The Swiss-Filipino team hopes that more Filipinos can become aware of their goals and what they’ve been doing so they can be inspired even more.Frei said the curling team shoulders all their expenses at present, citing their need to first achieve “success” before asking for financial support from the POC and other possible sponsors.The Swiss-Filipino athletes are also eyeing a podium finish against top Asian countries like China and Korea in the 2025 Asian Winter Games in Harbin to gain national recognition.“The curling team aspires to pave the way for future curling athletes from the country in their bid for the Olympics. We are trying to foster [Filipino talent] more and more just by being a role model and having this super ambitious goal,” Frei said.With the help of the POC and national sports associations, the team plans to hold exhibition tournaments in the country and provide training for aspiring Filipino curlers. The Curling Winter Sports Association of the Philippines, which the team is a part of, also aims to increase its membership from about 50 to 100 people this year according to Frei.Frei said Filipino communities come out to support them anywhere they play, worldwide.Single-minded in their dream to bring honor to the country, Frei revealed they wanted to achieve what the Jamaican Bobsled Team did in the 1988 Winter Olympic Games in Calgary. Received as underdogs in a cold weather sport, the Jamaicans competed against all odds and came out as the favorites.  “We don&#x27;t have a plan B. We have only one plan and that is to go to the Olympics,” Frei concluded.