Gulf nations Hungary for success

They have only been playing together for a little over three months, with Belleli serving as their curling mentor when they attended two of his free training sessions in Qatar.

"I don't know how to thank him. Belleli's been teaching us from the beginning," said Abdulateef.

"He also gave us curling gear," added Alkandari.

Saudi curler Hussain Hagawi, a former boxer, had his first experience delivering a stone in Qatar in 2018, when he and other Saudi athletes were invited by the Qatar Winter Sports Committee to try their hand at the sport. He later made the decision to fully commit to it.

"It's always fun to be in Qatar," said Hagawi, who warmly greeted and engaged in friendly banter with Qatari curlers in the mixed zone of the Harbin Pingfang District Curling Arena.

"There's a big potential to develop curling within the Gulf region to make curling more popular in the Middle East. But, to be competitive, like China, the ROK and Canada, there's a long way to go," said Belleli.

"This ice is fantastic, very fast. Unfortunately, we don't often get the chance to play on such highquality ice," he said, praising the curling facilities at the Asian Winter Games.

Despite the lack of a curling rink, Qatar has been consistently nurturing young talent and enhancing the technical and performance levels of local players. Among them is 20-year-old Amna Al-Qaet.

While she has showed up as a curler at the continental sporting gala, a glimpse at the photo of Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz on her phone's lock screen hints at her past tennis aspirations.