Sochi 2014 Organizing Committee launches World Junior Curling Championships
The World Junior Curling Championships will begin on the 28 February 2013 at the "Ice Cube" Curling Center in Sochi. The competition will be held by the Sochi 2014 Organizing Committee in partnership with the World Curling Federation. Sochi will host 100 athletes fr om 12 countries including Canada, China, Czech Republic, Denmark, Italy, Japan, Norway, Russia, Scotland, Sweden, Switzerland and USA.
Following the World Wheelchair Curling Championship, which ended in Sochi on February 23, the World Junior Curling Championships will be the second international Test Event at the "Ice Cube" Curling Center. Over 70 members of the Sochi 2014 Organizing Committee staff will continue testing all services and functions at the venue that will host the competitions for curling and wheelchair curling at the 2014 Games.
Unlike wheelchair curling wh ere mixed teams compete, the World Junior Curling Championships will hold separate tournaments for boys and girls at the same time.
The traditional favorites to win the boys' competition are the world champions, the team of Canada, as well as the silver and bronze medalists of the 2012 World Championships, the teams of Sweden and Scotland.
They are also expected to finish among top three in the ladies' event. The Czech Republic whose team consists of four girls who won silver at the 2012 World Championships will also be keen to win a medal. The Russian team who won bronze at the two last world championships will be competing with a new line-up.
From the 28th February to the 7th March the teams will compete in a round-robin tournament. On March 8 the top four teams in the round-robin tournament will meet in the page-play-off. The teams that finish in 1st and 2nd place will play each other. The winner of this match will go through to the final, whilst the loser will go through to the semifinal.
The teams that finish 3rd and 4th after the round-robin stage will play off against one another. The winner of this match will go through to the semifinals, whilst the loser will compete in the 3rd-place play-off.
On March 9 the semifinal will take place, with the winner going through to the final and the loser contesting the 3rd-place play-off. On March 10 the gold and bronze medals will be contested at the World Championships.
Kate Caithness, President of the World Curling Federation:
"This event is the first World Junior Curling Championships to be held in Russia. More importantly, it is one of the first World Curling Championships to be held in the new "Ice Cube" Curling Center which will host the Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games here in Sochi in 2014.
"One of two test events to be held in the Olympic Coastal Cluster, this is a fantastic opportunity to experience a world class curling venue ahead of the Games. I have no doubt that many of the young athletes will have Olympic dreams of their own and performances at Junior World Championships are a major stepping stone towards achieving such goals."
Notes to the Editor
The "Ice Cube" Curling Center is the smallest, but probably one the most comfortable sports venues in the Olympic Park. The design of the venue is minimalistic and it symbolizes democracy and accessibility as well as festivity, which are characteristics of the Olympic and Paralympic Games. The name has associations with the architectural form of the venue, which is 19.3 m high and 30 m x 60 m in width and length.