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European Curling Championships opens in Denmark

Xinhua, November 21, 2015 Adjust font size:

The 2015 European Curling Championships opened in Esbjerg, western Denmark, on Friday.

This is the second time that the Danish harbor town has hosted a large curling tournament as it was the venue for the World Women's Curling Championships in 2011.

26 men's teams and 20 women's teams will participate in the 41st edition of this event 's A and B Divisions.

The A-Division men's field features world and European champions Sweden, heralded by Niklas Edin, and last year's silver medalists Norway, led by Thomas Ulsrud.

Meanwhile, Czech Republic and Scotland are making their debuts at this level.

In the A-Division women's teams, current world champions Switzerland, led by Alina Paetz, will be defending a European title won by a different Swiss team last year, while last year's silver medallists Russia returned with a slightly different line-up, skipped by Anna Sidorova.

The tournament takes place in the Granly Hockey Arena and the Esbjerg Curling Club from Nov. 20 to 28.

Eight European women's teams will qualify out of the event for the 2016 Ford World Women's Curling Championships in Canada, while eight men's teams will qualify for the 2015 World Men's Curling Championship in Switzerland.

Denmark has hosted European Curling Championships three times before, in 1980, 1986 and 1996, with Copenhagen being the host city on all three occasions. Endit