Italians hope to inspire nation in build-up to home Games

BEIJING: Newly-crowned Olympic mixed doubles champions Italy are hoping their victory in Beijing can pave the way for increased funding and participation in curling back home before they host the Winter Games in 2026.

Stefania Constantini and Amos Mosaner beat Norwegian duo Kristin Skaslien and Magnus Nedregotten 8-5 to clinch gold at the National Aquatics Centre on Tuesday and win Italy's first Olympic curling medal.

"I think the Olympics in your home country is a once-in-a-lifetime thing," said the 22-year-old Constantini, who hails from Cortina, which will co-host the 2026 Games. "It will be very special to play there, especially after what we did today.

"I think it will be very important because people saw it and now there will be so many people who are going to try it out. It is not a very well-known sport, so that will be great.

"It is a very interesting and complete sport, there is a psychological aspect to it. So maybe this will be the beginning for many Italian people in curling."

Italy has no 'roaring game' tradition to speak of and, according to Italy coach Claudio Pescia, there are only three curling clubs and around 400 players in the country.

The Olympic debutant pair only teamed up ahead of the world championships last year in May and finished fifth but completed a perfect Games campaign on Tuesday, having won all of their matches en route to clinching gold.

"It's very important. We will have more funding, more attention from the media," Pescia said. "The attention we already had during the week was very high."

Pescia is part of the coaching team alongside fellow former curler Violetta Caldart, who represented Italy when they last hosted the Winter Olympics in 2006 in Turin.

"It's a niche sport ... and it will