Ramsfjell, who was part of Norway’s successful men’s team at the Salt Lake 2002 Winter Games and is the younger brother of multiple world champion Eigil Ramsfjell, has retained his position for a further four years, while Japan’s Toyo Ogawa has also been re-elected to the Board of Directors.

"I’m delighted to welcome Bent and Toyo back onto the Board in their respective positions and I look forward to working with them in the coming years," said WCF President, Kate Caithness.

Delegates gathered in Serbia’s capital also voted on a series of rule changes at the General Assembly, which formed part of the WCF’s fourth annual Congress.

As many as 26 proposals relating to the "Rules and Regulation of Curling" and a further three relating to mixed doubles curling, the Olympics’ newest curling discipline, were considered.

Among the key competition and rule changes is the introduction of the Olympic semi-final system at the Pacific-Asia and European A Division Curling Championships.

This will replace the page playoff system, in which teams are seeded using a round-robin tournament before the top four play a mix of single-elimination and double-elimination competitions to determine the winner.

It was first used at the World Curling Championships, which incorporates a 12-team round-robin preliminary round, in 2005.

Other changes include the introduction of a new play-off and relegation system for the European B Division Championships and qualification for the third-place team at the Pacific-Asia Championships to the WCF’s Olympic qualification event, if they have not previously qualified.

With regards to changes to the rules and format of mixed doubles, the in-house pre-placed stone will be moved from the back of the pin hole to the back of the four foot rings in order to vary the strategies of teams and shots.

The requirement for the non-throwing member of the team to be in the house has been removed, while a “PowerPlay” option has been introduced into the game.

Additionally, the European Curling Championship C Division event has been moved from the beginning of the season to the end to allow for more preparation time for competing teams.

"Thank you to the Curling Association of Serbia for their hospitality this week, for what has been another successful Congress and Annual General Assembly," added Caithness.

"Through the decisions that have been made today I am certain the sport of curling will continue to grow worldwide."

As part of the proceedings, the Hong Kong Curling Association and Qatar Curling Federation moved from conditional to provisional members of the WCF, while the Hellenic Winter Sports Federation replaced the Hellenic Ice Sports Federation. 

The total number of member associations remains at 54.

The fifth annual WCF Congress is scheduled to take place next year in Stockholm from September 7 to 10 with the annual General Assembly set to be held on the final day.

This will form part of the Swedish Curling Association’s 100th anniversary celebrations.

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