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Kevin Martin will be seeking a 32nd title for Canada since 1959 when this year's World Men's Curling Championship gets underway in New Brunswick, Canada.

Eleven other countries will compete with Canada for global honours at the tournament, which also presents the opportunity to earn Olympic qualifying points for a final time prior to the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver.

China, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Japan, Norway, Scotland, Switzerland and the United States, along with Canada, will compete at the 6,000-seater Coliseum in Moncton.

Defending world champion Martin (pictured) was undefeated (13-0) at last month's Canadian men's curling championship, his fourth such Tim Hortons Brier title, while establishing a Brier consecutive games-won record of 26. He was also unbeaten (13-0) at last year's domestic championship in Winnipeg.

No Canadian team has ever gone undefeated at a Brier and a world championship in the same year. Martin will also try to become just the fifth skip to win back-to-back world men's titles, and the first since Canada's Randy Ferbey accomplished the feat in 2002-2003.

The teams will play a round robin leading to the page play-offs, whereby the first and second place teams meet in one game, with the winner advancing directly to the gold medal final on Sunday.

The loser drops to Saturday's semi-final while the third and fourth place teams also meet, with the winner advancing to the semi-final. The loser goes to Sunday's bronze medal game to face the loser of the semi-final.

Last year, the 42-year-old Martin parlayed his Brier success into a career-first world title, defeating Scotland's David Murdoch in the final in Grand Forks, North Dakota, after previous silver medal finishes while representing Canada at the 1986 World Juniors, 1991 World Men's and 2002 Olympic Winter Games.

Scotland will once again be represented by 30-year-old Murdoch, who won the 2006 world men's title in Lowell, USA, and has twice been a world men's silver medallist - in 2005 and 2008.

Murdoch is also a three-times Le Gruyere European champion, winning gold in 2003, 2007 and 2008.

Norway's Thomas Ulsrud of Oslo, the 2006 and 2008 world bronze medallist, returns for a fifth time as skip, while China's Fengchun Wang of Harbin, who debuted last year at the world men's and finished a remarkable fourth, is also returning, after winning a second straight Pacific Championship last November.

On Sunday the curling world confirmed the full scope of global change as China's Bingyu Wang, the 2008 world women's silver medallist, defeated Sweden's Anette Norberg to win the Mount Titlis World Women's Curling Championship 2009 in Gangneung, Korea.

Switzerland's Ralph Stoeckli earned a silver medal at the 2003 Ford Worlds in Winnipeg, losing to Canada's Randy Ferbey in the final.

Watch live coverage from Canada on your PC via the Eurosport Player - click on the link under the picture to subscribe. Or watch the action on British Eurosport, available in the UK on Sky channel 410 and Virgin Media channel 521.

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