SWIFT CURRENT, Saskatchewan…The 2010 Ford World Women’s Curling Championship, presented by Monsanto, gets underway today at the Credit Union i-plex in Swift Current.
It’s the second time that a world women’s curling championship has been held in Saskatchewan. In 1983, the event took place in Moose Jaw and was won by Switzerland’s Erika Müller.
Twelve countries will be represented in the nine-day competition, with the top four teams qualifying for the playoffs, starting Friday, March 26 after the conclusion of the round robin. The first and second place teams face off in one game, with the winner advancing to the gold medal final, while the loser goes to the semi-final. The third and fourth place teams will also meet, with the winner advancing to the semi-final on Saturday, while the loser goes to the bronze medal game on Sunday morning, where it will play the semi-final loser. The Ford World Women’s final is slated for Sunday, March 28 at 3:00 pm CT/6:00 pm AT.
TSN will carry all Team Canada games throughout the round robin, followed by the playoffs and final.
Canada will be represented by four-time Scotties Tournament of Hearts winning skip Jennifer Jones and her St. Vital Curling Club team from Winnipeg of Cathy Overton-Clapham, Jill Officer and Dawn Askin. They also teamed to win the 2008 Ford World Women’s in Vernon, British Columbia. Canada plays its first game on Saturday evening at 7:00 CT/10:00 pm AT against Sweden.
China is skipped by Bingyu Wang of Harbin, who last month earned a bronze medal at the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver and is the reigning world champion, after capturing the 2009 World Women’s in Gangneung, Korea.
Five other teams which will compete in Swift Current also participated in the recent Winter Olympics – skipped by Denmark’s Angelina Jensen, Germany’s Andrea Schöpp, Japan’s Moe Meguro, Russia’s Liudmila Privivkova and Scotland’s Eve Muirhead (who represented Great Britain).
Jensen won a silver medal at the 2007 Worlds, Schöpp, the reigning European champion, will be making her 17th Worlds appearance, all as skip, having won in 1988, Privivkova won the 2006 World Juniors and 2006 European Championship while Muirhead is a three-time (2007, 2008, 2009) World Junior champion.
Completing the field are Latvia’s Iveta Stasa-Sarsune, Norway’s Linn Githmark, the 2004 world junior champion and 2004 Worlds silver medallist, Sweden’s Cecilia Östlund, the 2008 World Junior silver medallist, Switzerland’s 2006 Olympic silver medallist Binia Feltscher and Erika Brown of the United States, who has twice won silver medals at both the Worlds and World Juniors.