Underdog curling nations take unlikely paths to championships

The Pan Continental Curling Championships, which conclude Saturday in Kelowna, B.C., are hosting some of the top curlers in the world, including Canada's own Brad Gushue and Kelly Einarson.

The event has also welcomed athletes from countries such as Guyana, India, and Kenya where curling is a burgeoning sport experiencing its fair share of growing pains.

As a young child growing up in Brampton, Ont., Rayad Husain watched the Scotties Tournament of Hearts.

"I would use tennis balls on our parquet floors at home and pretend I was curling," Husain told CBC News.

He took up the sport, and started representing Guyana in 2016.

The South American country toiled in the B division but climbed to the A division thanks to the team's performance at last year's championship in Calgary. The team included a player who had never curled before, according to the World Curling Federation.

After a player dropped out ahead of the competition, Husain searched through the federation's Instagram followers in the hopes of finding someone. He reached out to Khemraj Goberdhan, a fan who had no curling experience, and asked if he wanted to join.

"People just reach out and find their way onto the team somehow," Husain said.

In Kelowna, Guyana faced top-flight competition in round-robin play, including a Canada side led by Gushue. Guyana finished with a 0-7 record and face relegation back to the B division.

Still, Husain says his team enjoyed its time in the A division, no matter how fleeting.

"It's bright lights and all the attention and stuff like that," he said. "It's fun."

Coached by YouTube

Among the countries that were hoping to make the leap to the A division was Kenya.

Kenyan team member Keegan Taylor said the sport caught his attention thanks to a "random video on YouTube."

Keegan Taylor, left, and Simon Karanja, right, represented Kenya at the Pan Continental Curling Championships in Kelowna, B.C. They said they learned the sport by watching YouTube videos. (Sarah Penton/CBC)

With little in the way of coaching and curling know-how, he and his teammates went back online for instruction.

"We were interested and we started learning from YouTube actually," Taylor said.

The team trains at an ice rink at a hotel in Nairobi. Like Guyana, Kenya finished round-robin play without a win.

Curling makes you 'feel at home,' says Indian lead

India lead Vinay Goenka says he first got into the sport by watching the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Games.

"It was pretty much love at first sight," said Goenka. "I had no clue what they were doing on the ice, but it felt amazing.… It took me three years to try it out but the game never left my head."

Other team members, who like Goenka are based in the U.S., were introduced to the sport by friends and colleagues.

The team was formed through Facebook with three of them first meeting in 2016 and competing at a bonspiel in New York.

Goenka says he reached out to skip R.N. Raju, who had a curling-related Facebook page and designed T-shirts. Goenka says he asked him about getting a T-shirt and eventually ended up on the national team.

"Can I get this T-shirt? That's all I asked him for," Goenka recalls.

Athletes from Kenya and India expressed disappointment that B division games weren't televised.

Still, they found the tournament to be a positive experience, a chance to learn from the world's best and meet people who share their passion for the sport.

"This is a sport where the community is bigger than the game itself," Goenka said. "What we do on the ice is a very small part of the game. You can walk into any curling club in the world and feel at home. That's what is special about curling."

The world championship qualifier continues through Saturday at the Kelowna Curling Club.

Canada has already secured berths in the world championships later this season.