Vernon, British Columbia, December 13, 2007…..Today, the 2008 Ford World Women’s Curling Championship Host Committee made two announcements.

The Host Committee proudly announced that curling fans are proving they are very excited to welcome the world with full-event package sales exceeding committee expectations, already reaching over 50% of the targeted 60,000 plus attendees.

“Since we announced the Championship ticket sales in early March of this year, full event tickets have sold very well,” said Rob Pringle, Chair of the 2008 Ford World Women’s Curling Championship Host Committee. “With the addition of our “a ticket package for every schedule and budget” mini packs, our goal of a complete sell- out remains attainable.”

This will mark the first time that Vernon will host a world curling championship of this stature. The only other British Columbia city to host such an event was Victoria, which staged the 2005 Ford world men’s curling championship.

“We are going into the women’s world curling championship with a tonne of momentum and an amazing amount of support in this city and the entire Okanagan,” said Pringle. “Every committee is working hard to bring an international flair and flavour to the Championship and show fans a world class event! We're definitely going to rock the Okanagan!”

The Host Committee was also excited to announce the 12 countries that have qualified to compete in the Championship.

Two nations gaining Ford Worlds berths from the 2007 Pacific Curling Championships in Beijing in November were China and Japan.

This past weekend at the Le Gruyère European Curling Championships in Füssen, Germany, 10 countries competed to decide the eight European nations to qualify for the 2008 Ford World Women’s Curling Championship.

Winning those berths were the Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Italy, Russia, Scotland, Sweden and Switzerland. Rounding off the 12 are the USA and Canada.

"The 2007 Le Gruyère European Curling Championships are a critical showcase of high-performance curling and a key stepping stone towards Olympic qualification," said Les Harrison, World Curling Federation (WCF) President.
Nations earn points from the World championships to qualify for the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver.

WCF Women’s Rankings Top 5
1. Canada                1020
2. Sweden                1012
3. USA                       776
4. Switzerland            762
5. Scotland/GBR         724

The World Curling Rankings track and list the success of all 46 Member Associations of the World Curling Federation at various major events, including the Le Gruyère European Championships, World Championships and Olympic Winter Games competitions.

For more information contact:

Rob Pringle
Chair of the 2008 Ford World Women’s Curling Championship
250-545-3488

Toby Oswald-Felker
Event Coordinator
250-558-1144
250-308-1654

For tickets, contact Ticketmaster visit www.ticketmaster.ca