SURSEE – Korea split a pair of games Monday to maintain a share of first-place at the 2008 World Wheelchair Curling Championships.

The squad, skipped by Hak Sung Kim, lost their morning bout with the United States by a 7-3 score but rebounded to defeat Scotland 5-3 in the  afternoon draw, following a key steal in the fourth end.

Canada won their games, 8-4 over Russia and 7-4 over Sweden, to share the lead at 4-1 along with Korea, defending champions Norway and the surprising Italians.

"We are here to go for gold," said a Korean team official.

"We had a very good preparation in Lucerne before we came to Sursee. We also did some mental training in preparation of the World Championship. Our team is in very good and strong condition.

"For the future, we would like to represent Korea at the Paralympics 2010 in Vancouver. But it is still a long way to go."

Scotland, which features two players from the 2006 paralympic silver medal team – skip Michael McCreadie and Tom Killin – are tied for last place with Russia and Japan. McCreadie faces the United States and Japan on Tuesday, and closes the round-robin portion of the tournament on Wednesday against powerful Norway and Canada.

Three other teams – host Switzerland, Sweden and the United States – are at 2-3.

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