SURSEE, SWITZERLAND – Surprise results in the first two rounds of play have marked the 2008 World Wheelchair Curling Championships as an event to be watched.

Defending champions Norway and 2007 world runner-up Switzerland are on track at 2-0, but perennial title threats Scotland and Canada are 0-2 and 1-1 respectively.

Sharing the leaderboard with Norway are surprises from Italy and Korea.

Norwegian skip Rune Lorentsen, whose squad defeated Sweden 5-3 on Saturday and the United States by a 6-3 scoreline on Sunday, is not surprised at the increased parity in wheelchair curling.

"Scotland, Switzerland and Canada are always (playoff) candidates, but the level of competing teams always gets better," said Lorentsen.

"There are no weak teams at a World Wheelchair Curling Championships. Everybody can beat everybody. The whole environment gets more and more professional (every year)."

Italy's Andrea Tabanelli shocked Canada's Gerry Austgarden 7-0 in the opening draw, scoring a single in the first end before rattling off six stolen points in the remaining five frames. Tabanelli followed that up with a big win over Scotland's Michael McCreadie by a 9-5 count.

The Canadians got back on track with an 8-1 victory over Japan. Scotland lost their opener 7-4 over Manfred Bollinger's host Swiss entry.

Korea's Hak Sung Kim has scored 18 points in just two six-end games. The Koreans dumped Russia 9-3 in the opening daw and then thumped Sweden's Jalle Jungnell 9-0 for a share of the lead at 2-0.

Competition concludes with the final on February 9, and real-time results - including shot-by-shot graphics and detailed statistics - are available at: www.wwcc.curlit.com

In addition, the International Paralympic Committee will broadcast packaged coverage of the semifinals and finals, at between 90 minutes and two hours in length, located at the web TV channel www.ParalympicSport.TV An embedded version of the channel is also located on the IPC website at: www.paralympic.org