Rudy Ramcharan (born 1964 in

Trinidad Trinidad is the larger and more populous of the two major islands of Trinidad and Tobago. The island lies off the northeastern coast of Venezuela and sits on the continental shelf of South America. It is often referred to as the southernmos ...

) is a Canadian curler from

Edmonton Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city anc ...

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

. He played second for three seasons for Kevin Martin from 1996–97 to 1998–99. He won a

Brier Briar, Briars, Brier, or Briers may refer to: * Briar, or brier, common name for a number of unrelated thorny plants that form thicket People * Brier (surname) * Briers, a surname * Briars (surname) Places * Briar, Missouri, U.S. * Briar, ...

as a member of the team in 1997. Ramcharan joined the team in 1996, and became the first

visible minority A visible minority () is defined by the Government of Canada as "persons, other than aboriginal peoples, who are non-Caucasian in race or non-white in colour". The term is used primarily as a demographic category by Statistics Canada, in connec ...

to win the Brier, being of

West Indies The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Great ...

descent. The team won the 1997 Labatt Brier and then finished fourth at

1997 Ford World Curling Championships The World Curling Championships are the annual world championships for curling, organized by the World Curling Federation and contested by national championship teams. There are men's, women's and mixed doubles championships, as well as men's an ...

. Ramcharan is one of only two visible minorities to have won the Brier, the other being Bryan Miki, who won the Brier in 2000 with

Greg McAulay Gregory McAulay (born January 2, 1960) is a Canadian World champion curler from Richmond, British Columbia. Career McAulay has been to only two Briers in his career. At the 1998 Labatt Brier, he skipped his British Columbia team to a 7-4 finis ...

. Ramcharan was replaced by

Carter Rycroft Carter Rycroft (born August 29, 1977) is a Canadian curler from Sherwood Park, Alberta. He was a member of the Canadian Olympic team, skipped by Kevin Martin, that won a silver medal at the 2002 Winter Olympics. Career Rycroft joined the Marti ...

on the team in 1999, and has since all but disappeared from the curling world. Much of this has to do with a

bonspiel A bonspiel is a curling tournament, consisting of several games, often held on a weekend. Until the 20th century most bonspiels were held outdoors, on a frozen freshwater loch. Today almost all bonspiels are held indoors on specially prepared a ...

he organized in 1999, known as the "World Open Classic". It was originally going to have a purse of $250,000, but due to lack of sponsorships, it was reduced to just $25,000, and many top teams pulled out, embarrassing Ramcharan.

Teams

Personal life

Ramcharan moved to Alberta at the age of 5 and grew up in

Alliance, Alberta Alliance is a village in central Alberta, Canada. Established as a station on a Canadian Northern Railway (CNoR) line in 1916, Alliance became a village in 1918. It is located on Highway 602, approximately east of Red Deer. The village is east ...

, where he also golfed. He began curling at the age of 12 or 13. At the time of the 1997 Brier, he was employed as a computer consultant.

References

External links

Rudy Ramcharan - Curling Canada Stats Archive
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ramcharan, Rudy Living people Curlers from Edmonton Canadian male curlers Canadian people of Indian descent Canadian Hindus Brier champions Trinidad and Tobago emigrants to Canada 1964 births Trinidad and Tobago sportsmen