By Holly Hamilton,

WITH the election of a new president to the World Curling Federation, and the sport still riding high from its two-week peak during the Vancouver Winter Olympics, curling has never had a better chance to raise its global profile.

CRAZY TROUSERS: The Norweigan rink created headlines in Vancouver with their eccentric dress sense but all publicity is good publicity for the sport (Getty Images)

Scotland’s Kate Caithness became the first British head of a world sporting governing body when she defeated Canadian Les Harrison, who was seeking re-election at the WCF annual meeting earlier in the month.

The former vice-president only decided to run when she was encouraged by members who felt it was time for a change and a fresh approach to the way international curling was run.

The sport enjoys a high profile in Caithness’ native country with 22 curling rinks across Scotland and a men’s team skipped by David Murdoch that were crowned world champions in 2009.

Caithness is proud that Great Britain is leading the way by appointing teenage skip Eve Muirhead to head up the women’s team and wants to see more countries put faith in their up and coming stars.

And the new president believes it is only by giving more youngsters a chance that curling will ever be able to compete with more popular sports around the world.

“In Vancouver all of a sudden a lot of younger people were playing the sport and watching it and that’s what we want to see,” said Caithness.

“Eve Muirhead is a fantastic role model for the youngsters in Scotland and when they see people like her performing at the top level then that is good for the sport.

“We’ve also got Niklas Eden who is the current world champion for Sweden and he has already reached the highest level at a very young age.

“We often lose the younger curlers when they go off to university and it’s important we get them back again.

“We need to attract youngsters into the game and by making curling more crowd-friendly we can do this.”

Posted: Sunday 21st March 2010 | 9:48

CANADA defended their Winter Paralympic curling title with a tense victory over Korea.

SKIP TO VICTORY: Canada skip Jim Armstrong helped his rink add the Paralympic title to their world crown in Vancouver (Getty Images)

Skip Jim Armstrong and his rink of Sonja Gaudet, Ina Forrest and Darryl Neighbour also won the world title in Vancouver twelve months ago but only Gaudet remains from the team that won in Turin four years ago.

Korea, skipped by Haksung Kim, battled back after Canada took an early advantage. Despite trailing 8-6 in the final end, they held two as Armstrong prepared to deliver his final stone. But he made no mistake to secure an 8-7 victory.

Armstrong admitted the victory was extra emotional, following the loss of his wife of 29 years Carleen, who died of cancer last September.

“I know she was here today,” he said.

“This is as good as I gets. Everybody that’s here has their own story on how they got here and it’s every bit as big because there’s that added factor.”

Elsewhere, Sweden claimed bronze with a 7-5 win over the United States.  

SCOTTISH skip Tom Brewster suffered heartache at the hands of Canada once again as he was forced to settle for silver at the World Curling Championship.

SO CLOSE: Scottish skip Tom Brewster was devastated after another extra end defeat to Canada – this time in the world final

Brewster, second 12 months ago, again took the tournament favourites to an extra end, just as he had in yesterday’s page 1v2 play-off game.

But once again Glenn Howard’s rink, who have only lost once all week, in a dead-rubber against New Zealand, proved too strong, winning 8-7.

Brewster did have a chance to win it in the final end, down one and looking at a tap back of a Canadian rock to score two, he was too heavy, eliminating his own rock and taking just one.

Although he tried to take heart from the loss, praising his team-mates Greg Drummond, Scott Andrews and Michael Goodfellow for their commitment to the cause in Basle.

“I’m gutted. I thought we were the better team, I really did,” said Brewster. 

“I thought we played some great curling, an inch more curl on that shot in the tenth and we’re there.”

However, experienced Howard, 49, was more consistent this week and he wins the fourth world title of his career – a quarter of a century after his first.

“Brewster and the boys threw everything at us – we were a little fortunate,” said Howard.

“I won my first world title 25 years ago and this one is just as special, maybe more so. It just feels great to win.”

Sweden took bronze for the second year in a row – meaning the 2012 podium was exactly the same as the top-three in 2011 – beating Norwegian skip Thomas Ulsrud 9-8 in a tense game that was also decided in an extra end.

And Sebastian Krauppsel, standing in for injured regular skip Niklas Edin, hailed the rink’s team spirit.

“This medal shows how solid we are as a team,” he said. 

“We’ve been up and down all week, so to have a medal here is excellent.”

©  2012

TOM Brewster let his unbeaten record slip as his Scottish rink lost their first match at the World Curling Championship.

Brewster, a silver medallist 12 months ago, gave up three points in the opening end of his round-robin match with Danish rival Rasmus Stjerne and was always struggling, eventually going down 7-9.

“We just got off to a bad start and never really got it back to be honest,” he admitted.

“We made a lot of good shots, but we just didn’t get the breaks. The fifth was a turning point and the three at the first end was just a soft three.”

In contrast Stjerne was delighted with his performance after a mixed opening day in Basel.

“That’s one for the books,” he said. 

“We came on strong and played a really good first five ends. We felt we had a chance from the start and we took it, and it paid off. 

“They were silver medallists last year, so that’s a big win to put in.  We feel like we can start building momentum now.”

©  2012