Wheelchair curling sets Pyeongchang pulses racing

It's probably the slowest sport at the Winter Paralympics, but curling has proved an unlikely hit, with spectators flocking to watch wheelchair-bound athletes skillfully slide stones over a sheet of ice.

The popularity of the niche sport has exploded in South Korea since February's Olympics when their women's side, nicknamed the "Garlic Girls", had a fairytale run and won a silver medal.

Curling's new-found fame has spilled over to this month's Paralympics in Pyeongchang where 12 mixed teams, consisting of male and female athletes with leg impairments, have competed.

The rules are similar to able-bodied curling. Athletes slide stones over the ice, and whoever gets them closest to the centre of a target at the end of each round can pick up points.

There is one key difference in the Paralympic version, however -- there is no sweeping, where athletes use a broom to vigorously rub the ice in front of a sliding stone to better direct it.

More than 54,000 tickets were sold for the wheelchair curling at the Games, while Mr. T -- who tweeted about his love of the sport during the Olympics -- has swung back into action, urging his followers to watch it at the Paralympics.

Only para-ice hockey, a fast and furious sport that sees athletes competing in double-bladed sledges, has been more popular at the Pyeongchang Games.

"It's a very entertaining game," Canadian wheelchair curler Ina Forrest, who lost the use of her legs aged 21 after a traffic accident, told AFP.

"I think there's been a huge increase in the calibre of wheelchair curling."
- 'Wheelchairs curling, more cooler!' -
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