Saudi Curling

The Last Pacific-Asia Championship

In November 2021, the curling world gathered at the Almaty Arena in Kazakhstan for an event that was historic on two fronts. First, it was the 30th and final Pacific-Asia Curling Championships (PACC) before the World Curling Federation retired the tournament to launch the Pan Continental Curling Championships. Second, and most importantly for the Kingdom, it marked the first-ever international appearance of a Saudi Arabian Men’s Team.

The First Men’s Roster

Transitioning from the Mixed Doubles format into the traditional four-player men’s game requires a completely different level of strategic depth, sweeping stamina, and team synergy. The four men who stepped onto the ice to pioneer this category for Saudi Arabia were:

• Skip: Alastair Fyfe
• Third: Munir Albeelbisi
• Second: Hussain Hagawi
• Lead: Suleiman Alaqel

Trial by Fire

The reality of international curling is unforgiving. The tournament was a brutal trial by fire for a debut team. The Saudi squad faced a gauntlet of heavily established curling powerhouses, including Olympic-level teams from South Korea, Japan, and the eventual bronze medalists from Chinese Taipei.

The team finished the round-robin with a 0-6 record, but the raw numbers don’t tell the full story. Stepping onto the ice to face South Korea (losing 3-9) and fighting to put points on the board against the host nation Kazakhstan (6-12) and Chinese Taipei (5-13) proved the team’s grit. They took their hits, learned the mechanics of a full team dynamic under elite pressure, and gathered competitive data that no practice session could ever provide.

The Bridge to the Future

Almaty wasn’t about dominating the podium; it was about ensuring Saudi Arabia had a seat at the table before the PACC era closed forever. By fielding a full men’s team, Saudi Curling proved its infrastructure was expanding. The men who played in Kazakhstan absorbed the hard lessons of elite competition so that future Saudi teams, competing in the new Pan Continental era, would have a solid foundation to stand on.