Despite being formed only two and a half years ago, the Philippine men’s curling team has since made waves internationally.
The Philippine men’s curling team is one tournament away from qualifying to the Winter Olympics. But before they go on to Canada this December, they will have another shot at the world stage.
Competing in the 2025 Pan Continental Curling Championships beginning Sunday, the Philippine curlers will vie for a spot in the World Championship.
Still funding themselves for the most part, the Philippine curlers are hoping to continue surprising people, especially coming off their Asian Games gold medal win earlier this year in Harbin, China.
“We are all on cloud nine,” Alan Frei told One Sports in an online interview earlier this week.
“Knowing, you know, [we have] two big tournaments coming up, we are flying to the U.S. where we are participating at the Pan Continental Curling Championships. So if we reach the fifth place there from eight, we can even make it to the world championships,” he added.
Frei and the rest of the team, namely Marc Pfister, Enrico Pfister, Christian Haller, and alternate Brayden Carpenter, are heading into Minnesota with tremendous momentum, especially after a 6-0 result in their most recent tournament – a pre-Olympic qualifying event.
[READ: Philippine curlers dominant in pre-Olympic tiff to seal place in Olympic qualifiers]
Not what it seems
But for Frei, there really isn’t anything to celebrate, especially since the wins came harder than it may seem.
“On paper, it looks like a clean sweep, but it was very hard and tough in the games,” Frei said.
“So there was fierce competition like the New Zealand guys, Denmark, Poland, Austria. They're top teams. Many of them play professional curling, only curling, nothing else. So on paper, it looked nice with a 6-0 sweep, but on the field, it was way harder,” he added.
In the Pan Continental Championship, it will be much of the same – with higher-level teams like China, Japan, US, Canada, South Korea, Australia, and New Zealand, standing in the Philippines' way.
The Philippines recently just moved up to Division A of the tournament, having won Division B.
Regardless, the Fil-Swiss curlers are doing everything they can to work on themselves to hopefully get another breakthrough.
“We are working on the side, everybody… So that we could focus all our energy and focus completely on the pre-qualification tournament shows the character of the team,” he said.
“As a team, [it was] how we evolved and how we came together as a team. It was absolutely fantastic to see.”
Frei and the rest of Team Philippines begin their battle in the Pan Continental Championships on Monday, October 20 (Tuesday, October 21, Manila time), against Australia.
The team needs to finish in the Top 5 to qualify for the World Championships slated in Utah.
Luisa Morales is a sports writer with a special interest in promoting women’s sports.
Her coverage highlights include the UAAP, PVL, Southeast Asian Games, and the FIBA World Cup. She also follows Alex Eala, the Philippine women’s national football team, and mixed martial arts.