[ritchiebaby]

It's a bit disconcerting to see a curler playing with a couple of palm trees in the background, just not what I would expect at all! I know some of you won't care about the dates of the games, but here are the first few to get you started.

Women
Saturday - England v Slovakia, Japan v Scotland.
Sunday - Scotland v Russia, Italy v England

Men
Saturday - Czech Republic v Scotland, Kazakhstan v Ireland, England v Russia, Japan v Scotland
Sunday - Sweden v England, Kazakhstan v Scotland, Ireland v Japan.

Qualifying
The women are playing in two groups and the four semi-finalists are made up of the first two from each group, the other two being the winners of 2nd in one group v 3rd in the other group.
In the men's event, the top two teams in each of the three groups and the best of the three 3rd-placed teams proceed to the quarter-finals. The remaining two 3rd-placed teams play-off for the other quarter-final place.
In a change from the usual World Championship procedure, the rest of the competition is on a straight knock-out basis.

Teams
Continuing on from last night, here are the men's teams from the British Isles who will be playing for their countries.

England - John Summers (Fourth, Skip), Charles Jackson (Third, Vice Skip), David Sillito (Second), Andrew Taylor (Lead)


Ireland - John Kenny (Fourth, Skip), Bill Gray (Third, Vice-Skip), Neil Fyfe (Second), David Whyte (Lead), David Hume (Alternate)


Scotland - Gordon Muirhead (Fourth, Skip), Norman Brown (Third, Vice-Skip), David Hay (Second), Hugh Aitken (Lead), Michael Hay (Alternate). The gentleman second from the right is Jim Cannon, who was at the Scottish Seniors Championships when this photograph was taken, but is not at the World Championships.

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Note
I've just read an article on the Irish Curling Association website, which reports that Johnjo Kenny will not be in Sochi for the Men's Championships. He is due to undergo a small operation in the next few weeks and his doctors have advised that a week's curling would not be the ideal preparation. Best wishes to Johnjo for a full and speedy recovery.