By Jim Force | Special to Wausau Pilot & Review
Two curlers from Wausau are about to take on the world’s best in global championships in Canada and Germany.
Amelia Hintz is on Team Scheel, competing at the World Junior Curling Championships in Fussen, Germany.
Matt Thums is on the U.S. Wheelchair Curling team participating in the World Wheelchair Curling Championships in Richmond, British Columbia, outside Vancouver.
Team Scheel earned its shot at the international competition when it won the U.S. Junior Women’s title last spring at Stevens Point. In addition to Hintz, team members include Miranda Scheel of Eau Claire (skip), Jordan Hein, Tessa Thurlow, and Anne O’Hara.
The team gets started this weekend with games Feb. 25 against Korea and Japan. Subsequent competition will have them facing off against Switzerland, Sweden, Germany, Norway, Canada, Latvia, and Scotland before the semi-finals and finals on March 3-4.
Broadcast coverage will be provided by World Curling TV and The Curling Channel.
Thums will be curling against some familiar foes in Canada. Last year at the Paralympics in Beijing, China, he skipped the U.S. team to a fifth-place finish against teams from China, Sweden, Korea, Japan, the Czech Republic, Canada, and others.
Joining him on the U.S. team are Steve Emt, Manchester, CT; Shawn Sadowski of Portage, WI; Laura Dwyer, Oconomowoc, WI; and Oyuna Uranchimeg, Minneapolis.
Team USA’s first match will be a round-robin face-off against Norway on March 4.
“It’s great that curlers from Wausau are competing internationally against the best teams in the world.,” said Kim Susens, president of the Wausau Curling Club. “We’re all very proud of them, and wish them good curling,
