The federation promoted the first official curling competition in Portugal at the Penhas da Saúde ice rink, in Covilhã, to promote the sport and teach people how to play.

The 1st Covilhã Interassociations Tournament, which took place over seven days, with eight teams, ended on Thursday night, with around 40 players who had never picked up a stone or a brush and now want to repeat the experience.

Cristina Santos, 58 years old, and her husband “have spent hours watching the sport on television” for a long time and, therefore, the supermarket operator knew the rules, but had never set foot on a rink.

“It is very different from seeing it on television. The cold is difficult, but it is also hard to master the techniques. The speed, the state of the ice, the way to pick up the stone, everything counts”.

The first sessions were guided by the national coaches and by two players from the national team, who started practicing the Olympic game many years ago in Canada.

“It is impressive to see how they manage, with almost millimeter precision, to execute the defined strategy”, underlined Luís Pires, 50 years old, president of the recent Ice Clube da Covilhã.

Promoted in partnership with the City Council of Covilhã, the tournament was attended by the councilor responsible for Sports, José Miguel Oliveira, who also had never played.

“It is a very interesting game. As a participant, I really enjoyed the experience. As a councilor, this modality has all the potential to grow and take advantage of this infrastructure that we have here”, highlighted the mayor, to Lusa.

The president of the FDIP, Pedro Flávio, says that this is a way of taking advantage of the Ice Arena to make curling known and to “challenge communities to start developing the sport”.