Nelson's Nathan Small and Team Hong Kong are celebrating after earning their best-ever finish at the Asian Winter Games.
The men's curling team, coached by Small, finished just outside the podium in fourth place at the event, which took place Feb. 7-14 in Harbin, China.
“It was, hands down, one of the greatest experiences of my life," said Small, who joined the team in 2023.
Hong Kong, which includes skip Jason Chang, third Martin Yan, second Ching Nam Cheng, first Cheuk Hei Chung and alternate Chi Lap Ma, romped through the round robin with a 4-1 record. The team beat Thailand 16-1, Saudi Arabia 15-1, Qatar 10-2 and Japan 7-3 before losing to China 9-2.
In the crossover game, Hong Kong defeated Kazakhstan 8-5 before falling 13-2 in the semifinal to South Korea. Small and the team then lost 10-3 to China in the bronze-medal game.
Hong Kong is a self-funded team, and was playing against full-time pro athletes in Korea (which went on to finish second to the Philippines) and China.
“A fourth-place finish is pretty fantastic in that regard.”
Team Hong Kong does not compete on the World Curling Tour and only typically come together for the Pan Continental Curling Championship, at which they won a bronze last year. But they made such a positive impression in Harbin that one of their players, Yan, was chosen to be Hong Kong's flag bearer at the closing ceremonies.
Small said the team will convene once again for this year's Pan Continental, and when it does Hong Kong could have some financial backing.
“We are very hopeful that, based on how well we did, the hands that I shook, the people that I met, it’s going to result in some sort of funding. Whether that covers the team's cost to fly to the Pan Continentals, if it includes equipment, funds for that, we are in talks about it. Obviously, because of how well we did, we're using that as leverage.”
