Belgium Wins Benelux Curling Championship, Luxembourg Places 3rd

Luxembourg has finished the fourth Benelux Championship, held in Zemst in Belgium at the weekend, in third place.

Belgium and the Netherlands each secured 33 points, whilst Luxembourg got 6 points (representing two wins out of sixteen games). Belgium was crowned the winner after winning the last stone draw, during which two players from each country had to play a stone as close to the button of the house as possible.

Curling Luxembourg recalled that Luxembourg is a "little curling country" compared to the other two nations and that both the Belgian and Dutch teams this year had "stronger players" than in the previous three years. In addition, the Kockelscheuer Ice Rink had opened only on 10 September 2023 and "the maximum six training possibilities after [a] 5.5-month stop in summer is by far not enough to compete at that international level against the two other nations who train nearly all summer long and at least rebegin to train much earlier than the Luxembourgers." Curling Luxembourg added that the two Luxembourg teams included a few newcomers who "give hope for the future" but for whom this was their first experience on the ice outside Kockelscheuer.

The Luxembourg teams (all players from Curling Club Luxembourg) were composed as follows:

- Lëtzebuerg 1: Alex Benoy, Dan Kelly, Marco Etienne and Philippe Giltaire;
- Lëtzebuerg 2: Virginie Hansen, Shiori Kuboki, Carole Remesch and Daniel Schweich.

Curling Luxembourg described the atmosphere among the players as "excellent", adding that they were all "happy for the experience and promised hard training to improve and compete in the future edition for a better place."