Battle for title and Paralympic points at World Wheelchair Curling Championship
Competition gets underway in Wetzikon, Switzerland 28 Feb 2020
The top 12 teams will take to the ice with hopes of claiming the world title and gaining Paralympic qualification points for Beijing 2022, as the World Wheelchair Curling Championship 2020 hits off on Saturday (29 February) in Wetzikon, Switzerland.
Those battling for the top prizes are Canada, 2019 champions China, Czech Republic, Estonia, Korea, Latvia, Norway, Russia, Scotland, Slovakia, Sweden and hosts Switzerland.
Journey to Wetzikon
Based on the final ranking at the 2019 edition, China, Scotland, South Korea, Norway, Slovakia, Russia, Estonia and Latvia secured their spots.
Reigning world and Paralympic champions China will be skipped by Wang Haitao again.
In addition, 2019 silver medallists Scotland will be sporting a new look this year as nine-time Worlds participant Aileen Neilson will not be in the line-up - a first since 2016. Fortunately for the Scots though, their skip, Hugh Nibloe, will return in search of gold.
South Korea, who won bronze in 2019, are skipped by Seung Won Jung this year. Fourth player Hui Tae Yang is the only team member that competes again in 2020.
The top three finishers - Canada, Sweden and Czech Republic - at the World Wheelchair-B Curling Championship 2019; and hosts Switzerland complete the field.
Competition format
The Championship will begin with a round-robin stage from Saturday to Thursday (5 March). A six-team play-off will then take place. In that play-off the teams ranked first and second at the end of the round robin progress directly to the semi-finals. Each of their opponents will be decided by a qualification round.
At that stage, the third-ranked team plays the sixth-ranked team and the teams in fourth and fifth place at the end of the round robin face-off. The winners of these games advance to the semi-finals on Friday (6 March). The bronze medal game will be on Saturday (7 March).
