How does wheelchair curling work and why are there no sweepers?

The wheelchair curling at the Winter Paralympics gets under way on Wednesday following on from Bruce Moat and Great Britain's success in Milan-Cortina.

Wheelchair curling adopts the same principles as the Winter Olympics version, but there are some subtle adaptations for the Paralympics.

The sport has been a fixture at the Games since making its debut at Turin in 2006.

At Milan-Cortina there will be two medal events - mixed team and mixed doubles - with the latter featuring in the Winter Paralympics for the first time.

In the mixed team event, there are four active players. Each game has eight ends, with both teams taking turns to slide eight stones per game.

Mixed doubles is slightly different, with just two players on each team. Each game also lasts for eight ends, but the pairs only deliver five stones per end. Two stones are also pre-positioned at the start of each end to create immediate action.

All 81 matches will take place at the Cortina Curling Olympic Stadium.

In wheelchair curling, two teams - known as 'rinks' - compete by sliding the heavy granite stones down the ice to get as close as possible to the centre of the 'house'.

The house is the circular target painted on the ice at each end of the sheet, consisting of four rings.

Games of wheelchair curling last for eight rounds - otherwise known as 'ends'.

There are three types of shot:

Whoever has the 'hammer' gets to deliver the final - usually decisive - stone.

When a team scores, the hammer passes to the other team for the next end, which can lead to rinks tactically blanking an end rather than just taking one point so they retain the hammer.

After each end, the team closest to the centre button scores a point. They also gain one additional point for every stone closer to the centre than their opponent.

The team with the most points wins, and if a game ends as a draw, extra ends may be played.

Wheelchair curling is played by athletes with impairements in the lower part of the body, so competitors do not sweep the ice as they do in the Winter Olympics.

Sweeping warms the surface and smooths out imperfections, allowing the stone to either glide further - up to two or three metres if done well - or curl less, to straighten its path towards the house.

But there are no sweepers in the Paralympics as the stone is simply pushed from a seated position using a delivery stick to set the stone in motion.

"It is very hard to be sweeping at the same time when we are rolling," explains Paralympic silver medallist Norway's Geir Arne Skogstad.

The stones also move faster down the ice than the speed at which the athletes can push their wheelchair, making it impossible to sweep.

Team-mates are permitted to hold another player's wheelchair for added stability.

It means the curlers have to be ultra-precise to land the stone in the desired position, while also being mindful of the speed they are releasing the stone.

This article is the latest from BBC Sport's Ask Me Anything team.