Team China is firmly at the top of the leaderboard at the 2025 Wheelchair Curling World Championship, currently taking place at the Auchenharvie Leisure Centre in Stevenston. After seven matches played, Haitao Wang’s team has secured six victories with only one defeat.

The tournament, which kicked off on March 1st and runs until March 8th, has brought together twelve of the world’s best teams. Besides the leading Chinese squad, Norway, Canada, South Korea, and host nation Scotland are also performing strongly.

For the Chinese team, this championship holds special significance as it will determine qualification points for the 2026 Winter Paralympics in Milan and Cortina. Team China captain Haitao Wang, a two-time Paralympic gold medalist (PyeongChang 2018 and Beijing 2022), shared his ambitions: “We aim to win our third Paralympic gold medal. I will train smartly and fulfill the tasks set by the coach to become more resilient both physically and mentally.”

Haitao Wang, who took up curling after contracting polio as a child, has become a symbol of the development of winter sports for people with disabilities in China. Under his leadership, the team has won the last four world championships and is striving to maintain their position at the top of the global curling scene.

The upcoming matches promise to be intense, especially those against close pursuers from Norway and Canada. The outcomes of these encounters could determine not only the winner of the current championship but also the power dynamics heading into the upcoming Paralympic Games.

Photo: Du Xiaoyi/Xinhua