1. TECHNICAL COMMITTEE
The technical committee will be composed of the ICSD Technical Director for Curling and members appointed by the Organising Committee:

SUTTON Dean ________________ ________________ PITONAK Frantisek CERNAKOVA Jana

- ICSD Technical Director - WCF Representative - WCF Representative - Sports Liaison Officer - Deaf Representative

2. PROTEST COMMITTEE

SUTTON Dean ________________ ________________ PITONAK Frantisek CERNAKOVA Jana

- ICSD Technical Director - WCF Representative - WCF Representative - Sports Liaison Officer - Deaf Representative

3. EVENTS
Team tournament competition will be conducted for men and women.

4. PARTICIPANTS

4.1. Age Eligibility
All curling competitors must be at least 16 years old in 2011 (born in 1995 or before).

4.2. Each National Federation may enter one (1) men's team and one (1) women's team. Participation in the Deaflympics is limited to a maximum of sixteen (16) men's teams and sixteen (16) women's teams.

Men's Teams (9): CAN (2009 World Champion) - CHN - FIN - HUN - JPN - RUS - SUI - SVK - USA

Women's Teams (7): CAN (2009 World Champion) - CHN - CRO - HUN - RUS - SVK - USA

4.3. Number of Players
Each team may register four (4) to five (5) players.

5. REGISTRATION

5.1. The preliminary registrations with an indication of the probable number of athletes in each event must be submitted to the Secretariat no later than 15 January 2010.

5.2. The final registrations with the names of each athlete indicating event entered must be submitted to the Secretariat no later than 04 February 2011. Such submissions may be made by telefax if followed by the official registration form.

5.3. No changes or additional entries will be accepted after 04 February 2011.

6. VENUES

6.1. Competition Venue
The Curling tournament will take place at Levoča.

6.2. Training Venue
The training venue is the same as the competition venue. Training will follow a schedule set by the Organizing Committee. The competition venue will not be available as a training sessions when competition has started.

7. SCHEDULE

7.1. Competition Schedule
Refer to the competition schedule on the Games website.

7.2. Training Schedule
Refer to the training schedule on the Games website.

8. COMPETITION RULES AND REGULATIONS

8.1. Technical Organisation
ICSD is responsible for the technical organisation of the Curling competitions.

8.2. Competition Rules
The Curling competitions will be conducted in accordance with the Rules and Regulations of the WCF (version June 2010). In case of disagreement in the interpretation of the Rules and Regulations, the English text shall prevail. Unforeseen incidents not covered by the Rules and Regulations shall be dealt with as follows:

8.2.1. Cases of a general nature will be resolved in accordance with Deaflympics Regulations, General Technical Rules – Winter Deaflympics, and this Curling Technical Regulations.

8.2.2. Technical questions related to competition rules shall be resolved according to the WCF Rules and Regulations.

Only athletes who comply with the Deaflympics Regulations are entitled to take part in the Deaflympics Curling competitions.

8.3. Competition Equipment
All equipment and implements used during competitions will comply with the WCF Rules and Regulations.

8.4. Uniform
Each team shall wear identical uniforms for all games. Each garment, shirt and jacket or sweater, shall have the player’s surname, in 5cm letters, across the upper back of the garment. If two players have the same surname, the first letter of their given name shall be added to the player’s name on the garment. The National Olympic Abbreviation code, in 5cm or larger letters, shall also be on the back above the waist. If desired, a national emblem may also be worn on the back, but only in addition to the country name and should be displayed between the players’ surname and country name. The members of a team shall wear light-coloured shirts when throwing stones with light-coloured handles and team members shall wear dark-coloured shirts when throwing stones with dark handles. If a team wishes to wear caps or hats, all of them shall be identical and relfect the country that the team is representing.

8.5. Draw
The draw for teams participating in the preliminary round of the men's and women's tournament was held on 24 January 2010 at the Grand Hotel Kempinski in Vysoké Tatry, Slovakia.

8.6. Competition Plan

8.6.1. Preliminary Round
The competition format will be a single round robin with each team playing against all the other teams in the preliminary round.

8.6.2. Semi Finals
After the preliminary round the top four (4) ranked teams shall play semi finals: (#1 v #4) (#2 v #3).

8.6.3. Finals
The winners of the semi finals will play for 1st and 2nd places (gold medal game), the losers for 3rd and 4th places (bronze medal game).

8.6.4. There will be a warm-up period for each team on the ice on which they will be playing prior to the start of the game. Details of the time and duration of the warm-up period will be given by the Chief Umpire in the technical meeting. Immediately following this warm-up the ice will be cleaned and swept in preparation for the game.

8.6.5. Stone Assignment
During Round Robin Games: A Last Stone Draw (LSD) is played at the conclusion of the team's pre-game practice (warm-up). One player delivers one stone, with sweeping allowed, to the tee at the home end. All Stones finishing in the house are measured. Stones that do not finish in the house are recorded as 185.4 cm. (6 ft. 1in.) Stones that finish so close to the tee that they cannot be measured are recorded as 0.0 cm. The team with the lesser LSD distance has the choice of delivering first or second stone in the first end. If neither team has a stone that finishes in the house, or both teams record the same distance, a coin toss will decide which team has the choice of delivering the first or second stone in the first end.

During Semi Finals and Finals: The team listed first in the draw schedule for the round robin games will play the stones with the dark coloured handles; the team listed second will play with the stones with the light coloured handles.

8.6.6. Each game in Deaflympics competition is ten (10) ends in length. If the teams are tied at the completion of ten (10) ends, a complete extra end must be played in order to break the tie. If both teams are still tied after the extra end, play must continue for as many ends as may be required to break the tie.

8.6.7. A team finishing clearly ahead of all other teams will gain last stone advantage in all semi finals and finals games, and a coin will not be tossed. Clearly ahead means that there is a difference in the win-loss column of the respective teams in the round robin.

8.6.8. Classification of Teams
Where teams are tied for positions after the round robin series has been completed, and where ranking is required for the semi finals, the following alternatives (in order) are used:

(a) the record of games between the tied teams is used to determine ranking;
(b) where three or more teams are tied and the record of games between the tied teams provides a ranking for some teams but not all, then those remaining teams whose ranking has not been decided will use the record of games between them to determine;
(c) for those teams whose ranking may not be determined by (a) or (b), then ranking shall be determined as follows: On the completion of their last round robin game, each member (4) of the tied or potentially tied teams shall deliver a stone to the tee with sweeping allowed. All stones finishing in a scoring position shall be measured and their distance from the tee recorded. Stones which do not finish in a scoring position shall be recorded at 185.42cm. Stones which finish so close to the tee that they cannot be measured by instrument shall be record as “0” distance. The cumulative distance for each team shall be recorded by the Chief Umpire. The team with the least distance shall be ranked highest, and so on until ranking is completed.

8.7. Officials

8.7.1. Umpires
The umpires to conduct the matches are designated by the Organising Committee. Umpires should be in possession of an WCF international license valid for 2011 but also top league umpires may be used. The scorers and timekeepers will be appointed by the Organising Committee.

8.7.2. Appointment
The Organizing Committee shall appoint an appropriate number of umpires and judges.

8.8. Withdrawal
If a team withdraws after the Winter Deaflympics have begun or is disqualified during the group matches, the group must continue without this team or a replacement. The matches played by the team concerned will not be taken into consideration.

9. PROTESTS

9.1. Procedure for lodging a protest
All sport related protests will be resolved in accordance to the WCF Rules and Regulations and will be managed by the Curling Protest Committee. Any official protest must be submitted in writing in English on the Official Deaflympics Protest Form. The form must be given to the ICSD Technical Director with USD $50 within 30 minutes after official posted results.

The ICSD Technical Director will decide whether the protest is sporting related or eligibility related. The Curling Protest Committee will review all sport related protests, and the ICSD Executive Committee will review all eligibility protests. The deposit of USD $50 will be returned to the appellant only if the protest is considered valid.

9.2. Procedures for reviewing a protest
The Curling Protest Committee will meet in the Technical Directors office in Levoča at a time decided upon by the chairperson of the committee.

• The ICSD Technical Director will be the chairperson of the committee.
• The Sports Liaison Officer (SLO) will be responsible to book the meeting room and interpreters.
• The Sports Liaison Officer (SLO) will contact all committee members to inform them of the meeting time and location.
• The ICSD Technical Director will be responsible for liaising with the State Sports Association's Competition Manager.

The Sports Liaison Officer (SLO) will be responsible for informing Games Headquarters GHQ and the ICSD Technical Director will be responsible for informing ICSD Executive Committee about the protest and also the outcome of the protest.

10. CONTROL AND SANCTIONS

10.1. Hearing Aids
The use of any hearing aid/amplification or external cochlear implant parts are not permitted within the restricted zone area.

10.1.1. Restricted Zone Area
The restricted zone area is in effect from the time athletes enter on the ice sheet during the warm-up and competition period.

10.1.2. Violation and Penalty
When this rule is violated, the match shall immediately be stopped and the offending team shall lose by 0-8. Refer to Audiogram Regulations, 8: VIOLATIONS and PENALTIES.

10.2. Medical Control
Refer to General Technical Rules - Winter Deaflympics, Article 4 - CONTROL AND SANCTIONS.

11. TECHNICAL MEETING

11.1. Date and Location
The Curling technical meeting will be held on TBA February 2011 in TBA at TBA.

11.2. Attendance
Each participating National Federation may be represented by two officials, of whom at least one must be deaf and, if necessary, an interpreter.

Each National Federation must bring uniforms to the technical meeting for review and approval.