Japan will be aiming to defend their women's title when the Pacific-Asia Curling Championship starts tomorrow in the South Korean city of Uiseong ©Getty Images

The 26th edition of the Pacific-Asia Curling Championship (PACC) will feature a record 17 teams when it begins tomorrow in the South Korean city of Uiseong.

This is the second time that the PACC will be contested in the Uiseong Curling Training Centre, after the city also held the event in 2010.

Hong Kong’s women’s team, as well as Qatar’s men’s and women’s sides, are set to make their PACC debuts, while Australia will rejoin both fields after missing out at the 2015 event in Kazakh city Almaty, which unsuccessfully bid for the 2022 Winter Olympic Games.

China, defending champions Japan, Kazakhstan, South Korea and New Zealand complete the women’s competition, while the men’s tournament also features China, Hong Kong, Japan, 2015 winners South Korea, New Zealand, Kazakhstan and Chinese Taipei.

In the women's event, China's six times PACC champion and Vancouver 2010 Olympic bronze medallist Bingyu Wang returns to the tournament for first time since 2013, with two of her Olympic team mates, Jinli You and Yan Zhou.

Japan's Satsuki Fujisawa leads her recent World Curling Championship silver medal winning team of Yurika Yoshida, Yumi Suzuki, Chimani Yoshida and Mari Motohashi.

The South Korean team skipped by Soo Hyuk Kim (centre) will be aiming to retain their title on home ice ©Getty Images
The South Korean team skipped by Soo Hyuk Kim (centre) will be aiming to retain their title on home ice ©Getty Images

In the men's competition, South Korea are unchanged from 2015 as they seek to defend their title.

They are made up of skip Soo Hyuk Kim, Tae Hwan Kim, Jong Duk Park, Yoon Ho Nam and Min Hyeon Yoo.

Chinese skip and six-times PACC champion Rui Liu is also back in action at this event for the first time since 2013, while Australia are skipped by Ian Palangio who will make his 15th PACC appearance.

After an Opening Ceremony tomorrow, 16 sessions of round-robin play will get the tournament underway.

Following the conclusion of round-robin play, the semi-finals will follow on Friday (November 11) before the men's and women’s gold and bronze medal games will bring the event to its close on Saturday (November 12).

This is the first of three World Curling Federation (WCF) Championships to be held in South Korea this season.

The World Junior Curling Championships are due to be held in Pyeongchang, the host city of the 2018 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games, in February, while the World Wheelchair Curling Championships will take place at the same venue a month later in March.