Sweeting, Morozumi & Kim claim Champions Cup spots

Edmonton’s Val Sweeting will be making a home-province appearance at the end of the season after qualifying for the Humpty’s Champions Cup.

The seventh and final stop on the 2016-17 Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling calendar runs April 25-30 at WinSport Arena in Calgary and features all of the top winners of the year in one final showdown.

Sweeting clinched a spot after capturing the Tour Challenge (Tier 1) title Sunday in Cranbrook, B.C., with an 8-4 victory over Michelle Englot’s Winnipeg-based team.

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While Sweeting competed in the inaugural Humpty’s Champions Cup this past season, it was only through winning the HDF Insurance Shoot-Out and then playing the waiting game until later in the season when it became eligible as one of the World Curling Tour events based on strength of field.

Having a Humpty’s Champions Cup berth guaranteed via the Tour Challenge is much sweeter.

“Last year we didn’t know until really late when we locked up that spot, so we’re definitely happy to get it now,” Sweeting said after the Tour Challenge. “We were in that arena before and it’s awesome so we’re definitely excited to go play there.”

Niklas Edin of Sweden captured the Tour Challenge (Tier 1) men’s championship defeating Scotland’s Kyle Smith 7-3 in the final. Since Edin already claimed a spot after winning the WfG Masters two weeks ago, an extra WCT event winner based on strength-of-field will receive an invite to round out the 15-team field (Teams qualifying for WCT spots will be notified Feb. 1, 2017).

Meanwhile, the Pacific-Asia Curling Championships were also held this past weekend with Yusuke Morozumi of Japan taking the men’s title and EunJung Kim of South Korea victorious on the women’s side to also qualify for the Humpty’s Champions Cup.

Defending Humpty’s Champions Cup winners Reid Carruthers and Jennifer Jones, both of Winnipeg, plus WFG Masters champ Allison Flaxey of Caledon, Ont., qualified earlier for the 2017 event.

2017 HUMPTY’S CHAMPIONS CUP QUALIFIED FIELD

Men’s Qualifying Events	Women’s Qualifying Events
Humpty’s Champions Cup defending champ Reid Carruthers	Humpty’s Champions Cup defending champ Jennifer Jones
WFG Masters/Tour Challenge (Tier 1) Niklas Edin	WFG Masters Allison Flaxey
Boost National	Tour Challenge (Tier 1) Val Sweeting
Meridian Canadian Open	Boost National
Princess Auto Elite 10	Meridian Canadian Open
WestJet Players’ Championship	WestJet Players’ Championship
European Championship	European Championship
World Championship	World Championship
World Junior Championship	World Junior Championship
Pacific-Asia Championship Yusuke Morozumi	Pacific-Asia Championship EunJung Kim
Tim Hortons Brier	Scotties Tournament of Hearts
U.S. National Championship	U.S. National Championship
World Curling Tour event – TBD (Based on strength of field)	World Curling Tour event – TBD (Based on strength of field)
World Curling Tour event – TBD (Based on strength of field)	World Curling Tour event – TBD (Based on strength of field)
World Curling Tour event – TBD (Based on strength of field)	World Curling Tour event – TBD (Based on strength of field)

Note: If a team declines or a team wins more than one listed tournament (e.g. a team wins the Masters and the Tour Challenge), the next-ranked World Curling Tour event winner based on strength of field will be eligible to receive an invite.