Swift Current Welcomes The World

SWIFT CURRENT, Saskatchewan, March 17...The 2010 Ford World Women's Curling Championship, presented by Monsanto, gets underway Saturday 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/5:00 pm ET.

TSN will carry all Team Canada games throughout the round robin, followed by the playoffs and final, while WCTV, the television arm of the World Curling Federation, will provide live game feeds to Eurosport and other international networks, in addition to highlight packages. Also, NHK will televise all Japan games while Chinese Television will do the same for China's entry.

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/9:00 pm ET 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.

Canada has won a leading 15 women's world titles since 1979, the latest by Manitoba's Jennifer Jones in 2008.

Among other world women's records, Sweden's Elisabet Gustafson is the only four-time winning skip (1992, 1995, 1998 and 1999) while two-time (1990, 1991) world champion Dordi Nordby of Norway is the all-time leader in appearances (18 in total, 16 as skip) and games-won (111, as skip).

The Ford Motor Company of Canada began its involvement as title sponsor of the world curling championships in 1995 in Brandon, Manitoba. This marks the 16th year of title sponsorship by Ford of Canada.

The Opening Ceremonies begin at 12 Noon on Saturday, March 20, with the first draw at 2:00 pm local time. Attached are the official draw and roster.

2010 FORD WORLD WOMEN'S CURLING CHAMPIONSHIP
MARCH 20-28, I-PLEX, SWIFT CURRENT, SASKATCHEWAN, CANADA
[in order of fourth (skip, unless where noted), third, second, lead, alternate and coach]

CANADA – St. Vital CC, Winnipeg, Manitoba

Jennifer Jones
Cathy Overton-Clapham
Jill Officer
Dawn Askin
Jennifer Clark-Rouire
Janet Arnott

CHINA – Harbin CC, Harbin

Bingyu Wang
Yin Liu
Qingshuang Yue
Yan Zhou
Xindi Zhang
Weidong Tan, Dan Rafael

DENMARK – Tårnby CC, Tårnby

Madeleine Dupont
Denise Dupont
Angelina Jensen (skip)
Camilla Jensen
Ivana Bratic
Renée Sonnenberg

GERMANY – SC Riessersee, Garmisch-Partenkirchen

Andrea Schöpp
Melanie Robillard
Monika Wagner
Stella Heiss
Corinna Scholz
Rainer Schöpp

JAPAN – Aomori CC, Aomori

Moe Meguro
Anna Ohmiya
Mari Motohashi
Kotomi Ishizaki
Mayo Yamaura
Shinya Abe

LATVIA– Jelgava Curling Club, Jelgava

Iveta Stasa-Sarsune
Una Grava-Germane
Ieva Krusta
Zanda Bikse
Dace Munca
Brian Gray

NORWAY - Stabekk Curling Club, Stabekk

Linn Githmark
Henriette Lovar
Ingrid Stensrud
Kristin Skaslien
Kristin Tøsse Løvseth (alternate & coach)

RUSSIA – Moskvitch CC, Moscow

Liudmila Privivkova
Anna Sidorova
Nkeiruka Ezekh
Ekaterina Galkina
Margarita Fomina
Olga Andrianova

SCOTLAND– Dunkeld Curling Club, Dunkeld

Eve Muirhead
Kelly Wood
Lorna Vevers
Anne Laird
Sarah Reid
Nancy Murdoch

SWEDEN – Karlstads CK, Karlstad

Cecilia Östlund
Sara Carlsson
Anna Domeij
Liselotte (Lotta) Lennartsson
Sabina Kraupp
Peja Lindholm

SWITZERLAND – Flims PurePower CC, Flims

Binia Feltscher
Corinne Bourquin
Heike Schwaller
Sandra Ramstein-Attinger
Marisa Winkelhausen
Gaudenz Beeli, Lorne & Christine Hamblin

UNITED STATES – Madison CC, Madison, Wisconsin

Erika Brown
Nina Spatola
Ann Swisshelm
Laura Hallisey
Jessica Schultz
Bill Todhunter