2005-03-31 13:45 CEST Several famous curlers on the ice at the Ford World Men´s Championship Several famous curlers on the ice at the Ford World Men´s Championship which will start in Victoria, B.C. Canada on Saturday April 2nd. There are several very famous curlers on the ice in the brand new arena Save-On- Foods memorial Centre in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada when the Ford World Men´s Curling Championship will start on Saturday, April 2nd. Host nation Canada will be represented by Randy Ferbey´s team from Edmonton, world champions both in 2002 and 2003. Pål Trulsen´s Olympic champions of Salt Lake City 2002 will represent Norway. The Olympic bronze medallists of that year, Andy Schwaller´s team will play for Switzerland. Then there are three former European champion teams, Scotland´s David Murdoch (Euro champions 2003), Finland´s Markku Uusipaavalniemi (champions 2000) and Germany´s Andy Kapp (champions 1992, 1997). Also former Pacific champions, Australia´s Hugh Millikin and New Zealand´s Sean Becker. The other competing teams playing in Victoria are Denmark (Johnny Frederiksen), Italy (Stefano Ferronato), Sweden (Eric Carlsén) and USA (Pete Fenson). The defending world champions are Team Peja Lindholm from Sweden but that team lost to Eric Carlsén in the final of the Swedish play-downs. This new Swedish team is skipped by Eric Carlsén with experience of three World junior championships, finishing runner-up in both 2002 and 2003. The Ford World Championship in Victoria is not only an event for medals and honour. This is also the third and last qualification event for the 2006 Olympic curling tournament in Torino. As host nation Italy has a guaranteed place. Here are the standings for the nine other Olympic spots: Rank: Nation 2003 2004 2005 Total 1) Canada 12 8 20 2) Sweden 6 12 18 3) Norway 8 7 15 4) Switzerland 10 4,5 14,5 5) Germany 1,5 10 11,5 6) Scotland** 4,5 6 10,5 7) Finland 7 - 7 8) Denmark 4,5 2 6,5 9) USA 3 2 5 10 Italy* - - 11) New Zealand - 4,5 4,5 12) France - 2 2 13) Korea 1,5 - 1,5 * Italy as host nation for 2006 Olympic games has guaranteed place ** Scotland represents Great Britain at Olympic Games Media Relations Officer Håkan Sundström IDROTTSHUSET Mårbackagatan 19 123 43 FARSTA, Sweden E-mail: [email protected] Fax: +46 8 604 70 78 Telephone: +46 8 683 30 16 Kontaktpersoner Stefan Lund Presskontakt [email protected] +46702092295 +4686833016.