Ford World Women¹s starts Saturday in Swift Current

SWIFT CURRENT, Saskatchewan, March 17…The 2010 Ford World Women¹s Curling

Championship, presented by Monsanto, gets underway Saturday at the Credit

Union i-plex in Swift Current.

It¹s the second time that a world women¹s curling championship has been held

in Saskatchewan. In 1983, the event took place in Moose Jaw and was won by

Switzerland¹s 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 Women¹s 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

China¹s 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 Women¹s 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 Women¹s in Gangneung, Korea.

Five other teams which will compete in Swift Current also participated in

the recent Winter Olympics – skipped by Denmark¹s Angelina Jensen, Germany¹s

Andrea Schöpp, Japan¹s Moe Meguro, Russia¹s Liudmila Privivkova and

Scotland¹s 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 Latvia¹s Iveta Stasa-Sarsune, Norway¹s Linn

Githmark, the 2004 world junior champion and 2004 Worlds silver medallist,

Sweden¹s Cecilia Östlund, the 2008 World Junior silver medallist,

Switzerland¹s 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.

The media room phone number is (306) 778-7712. Draw results and other event

information are available at the Canadian Curling Association

(www.curling.ca <http://www.curling.ca> ) and World Curling Federation

(www.worldcurling.org <http://www.worldcurling.org> ) websites. The event

headquarters hotel is the Holiday Inn Express Hotel and Suites (306)

773-8288.

The world women¹s began in 1979 in Perth, Scotland and was contested

separately from the men¹s championship through 1988. During that time, the

women¹s event was held twice in Canada, in 1983 in Moose Jaw and 1986 in

Kelowna.

In 1989, both championships were combined for the first time in Milwaukee,

Wisconsin and remained so through 2004. During that time, Canada first

hosted the joint championships in 1991 in Winnipeg, followed by five Ford

World Men¹s and Women¹s Curling Championships (Brandon, 1995; Hamilton,

1996; Kamloops, 1998; Saint John, 1999 and Winnipeg, 2003).

Beginning in 2005, when the men¹s and women¹s world championships were

separated once again, the Canadian Curling Association agreed to alternately

stage a men¹s and women¹s event in Canada each year.

Since then, the Ford World Men¹s has been held in Canada in Victoria (2005),

Edmonton (2007) and Moncton (2009) while the Ford World Women¹s was staged

in 2006 in Grande Prairie, Alberta and in 2008 in Vernon, British Columbia.

Canada has won a leading 15 women¹s world titles since 1979, the latest by

Manitoba¹s Jennifer Jones in 2008.

Among other world women¹s records, Sweden¹s 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.