March 18, 2008….The 2008 Ford world women’s curling championship gets underway this Saturday in Vernon, British Columbia.
Twelve countries will battle for the world title from March 22-30 at the Greater Vernon Multiplex. The teams play a round robin, concluding on Thursday, March 27, followed by the Page Playoffs, leading to the final on Sunday, March 30.
Representing the host country Canada is the Jennifer Jones team from Winnipeg, Manitoba. Jones won the 2008 Scotties Tournament of Hearts last month in Regina, defeating Calgary’s Shannon Kleibrink in the final. Jones is making her second world women’s appearance, after finishing fourth to Sweden’s Anette Norberg in 2005 in Paisley, Scotland.
Canada has won a leading 14 women’s titles since 1979, the latest by Kelowna’s Kelly Scott in 2007 in Aomori, Japan.
Skip Debbie McCormick, who won the 2003 Ford Worlds in Winnipeg, defeating Canada’s Colleen Jones in the final, will try to give the United States a second world women’s crown. McCormick was also the runner-up in 2006 in Grande Prairie, Alberta, losing the final to Norberg.
Switzerland’s Mirjam Ott, an Olympic silver medallist in 2002 and 2006, will make her third appearance at the worlds, seeking a third title for her country, but first since 1983.
Russia’s 21-year-old Liudmila Privivkova, the 2006 world junior and European champion, also makes her third worlds appearance, after earlier this month competing in a sixth world juniors in Östersund, Sweden, while last year’s world women’s runner-up, Denmark’s Angelina Jensen, also returns.
Germany’s Andrea Schöpp, the 1988 world champion, makes her 15th appearance, behind only Norway’s Dordi Nordby. Two years ago, Schöpp finished fourth in Grande Prairie. Germany’s only world women’s victory was by Schöpp, who also stands second to Nordby’s 111 world game wins, with 82. Schöpp, a six-time European champion, also won a gold medal at the 1992 Winter Olympics in Albertville, France, when curling was a demonstration sport.
Sweden will be represented by 22-year-old skip Stina Viktorsson of Skellefteå. Sweden has won seven world women’s titles, behind only Canada.
Completing the line-up are China (Bingyu Wang), Czech Republic (Katerina Urbanová), Italy (Diana Gaspari), Japan (Moe Meguro) and Scotland (Gail Munro).
Country qualifying points for the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver are also on the line, on a sliding scale from 14 to the winner, 12 to second, 10 to third, down to one point for last place.
There will be extensive national and international television coverage of the Ford world women’s curling championship. TSN will carry all round robin games involving Canada, followed by the Page Playoffs on Friday, March 28. The Page system matches 1 vs 2 and 3 vs 4. The winner of 1 vs 2 advances directly to Sunday’s final while the loser goes to Saturday’s semi-final. The winner of 3 vs 4 also goes to the semi-final.
Resurrected this year, after a three-year absence, is the bronze medal game, which will be contested Saturday evening at 6:00 pm PT, featuring the semi-final loser against the loser of the Page 3 vs 4 game.
CBC-TV will televise the semi-final on Saturday, March 29 at 11:30 am PT/2:30 pm ET and the final (gold medal game) on Sunday, March 30 at 10:30 am PT/1:30 pm ET. CurlTV (www.curltv.com) will also provide draw coverage to its subscribers.
WCTV, the television arm of the World Curling Federation, will provide multi-game coverage throughout the week for channels outside Canada, including the multi-lingual sports channel Eurosport. Working in collaboration with Japanese broadcaster NHK, WCTV will also produce comprehensive coverage of Japanese games to be aired throughout the championship in Japan. In addition, WCTV will produce a daily highlights package for worldwide distribution.
Results of the 2008 Ford world women’s curling championship will be available on the Canadian Curling Association (www.curling.ca <http://www.curling.ca> ) and World Curling Federation (www.worldcurling.org <http://www.worldcurling.org> ) websites.
The Opening Ceremonies begin at 11:00 am Saturday in the 3,000-seat Multiplex, with the first draw at 1:00 pm PT/4:00 pm ET. Canada’s first game is Saturday night at 6:00 pm PT against Switzerland.
This marks the fourth consecutive year that the women’s and men’s world championships are being held in different venues, as they were from 1979-1988. In 1989 in Milwaukee, the men’s and women’s championships were staged jointly and remained so through 2004.
Since then, Canada has alternately hosted a men’s and women’s world championship under the Ford banner, now in its 14th year of event title sponsorship. Last year, the Ford world men’s was held in Edmonton and won by Canada’s Glenn Howard. This year’s world men’s is in Grand Forks, North Dakota, April 5-13, when Canada’s colours will be carried by Edmonton’s Kevin Martin, winner of the recent Tim Hortons Brier in Winnipeg.
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2008 FORD WORLD WOMEN’S CURLING CHAMPIONSHIP
MARCH 22-30, GREATER VERNON MULTIPLEX, VERNON, BC
Roster (skip, third, second, lead, alternate, 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 (third stones)
Yin Liu (fourth stones)
Qingshuang Yue
Yan Zhou
Jinli Liu
Weidong Tan
CZECH REPUBLIC – CC Dion, Prague
Katerina Urbanová
Lenka Cernovská
Jana Safariková
Sara Jahodová
Jana Simmerová
Vlastimil Vojtus
DENMARK – Tårnby CC, Tårnby
Angelina Jensen (second stones)
Madeleine Dupont (fourth stones)
Denise Dupont (third stones)
Camilla Jensen
Ane Håkansson Hansen
Kjell-Arne Olsson
GERMANY – SC Riessersee, Garmisch-Partenkirchen
Andrea Schöpp
Monika Wagner
Anna Hartelt
Marie-Therese Rotter
Melanie Robillard
Rainer Schöpp
ITALY– CC Dolomiti, Cortina d’Ampezzo
Diana Gaspari
Giorgia Apollonio
Elettra De Col
Violetta Caldart
Lucrezia Laurenti
Jean Pierre Rütsche
JAPAN – Aomori CC, Aomori
Moe Meguro
Mari Motohashi
Mayo Yamaura
Kotomi Ishizaki
Anna Ohmiya
Shinya Abe
RUSSIA – Moskvitch CC, Moscow
Liudmila Privivkova
Olga Jarkova
Nkeiruka Ezekh
Ekaterina Galkina
Margarita Fomina
Olga Andrianova
SCOTLAND– Stranraer Ice Rink, Stranraer
Gail Munro
Lyndsay Wilson
Karen Addison
Anne Laird
Lynn Cameron
Rhona Martin
SWEDEN – Skellefteå CK, Skellefteå
Stina Viktorsson
Maria Prytz
Maria Wennerström
Margaretha Sigfridsson
Sabina Kraupp
Andreas Prytz
SWITZERLAND – CC Davos, Davos
Mirjam Ott
Carmen Schäfer
Valeria Spälty
Janine Greiner
Carmen Küng
Marc Brügger
UNITED STATES – Madison CC, Madison, Wisconsin
Debbie McCormick
Allison Pottinger
Nicole Joraanstad
Natalie Nicholson
Tracy Sachtjen
Wally Henry
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