KELOWNA, B.C. - Canada's Kerri Einarson opened the Pan Continental Curling Championships on Sunday with a 9-2 rout of Taiwan's Cynthia Lu at the Kelowna Curling Club.
But she struggled in the evening draw and lost a 10-7 decision to Japan's Satsuki Fujisawa.
The event serves as a world championship qualifier for countries outside Europe.
Einarson, from Camp Morton, Man., stole a pair in the fourth end and added a steal of three more points in the fifth to pull away against Taiwan.
Lu made a single in the sixth end and the teams shook hands after Einarson made a raise takeout for a deuce in the seventh.
In other early results, South Korea’s Eunji Gim beat Mexico’s Team Adriana Camarena 10-1, Fujisawa beat New Zealand's Jessica Smith 9-4 and American Tabitha Peterson topped Australia's Jennifer Westhagen 10-4.
In the evening draw, Einarson led 2-1 after three ends. Japan scored one in the fourth and stole two in the fifth to grab a 4-2 lead. Canada bounced back with three in the sixth to take a 5-4 lead, but Japan scored two in the seventh and eighth ends to go up 8-5.
Einarson scored two in the ninth with last rock to pull within 8-7, but couldn't produce a steal in the final end.
“I thought their team played really well, and I know for myself, I wasn’t super happy with my performance, so I’m looking to turn that around,†said second Shannon Birchard. “A couple shots here and there, and it’s a different game. I think we can just take what we learned from this game and improve going forward.â€
In other late draw results, the United States crushed Taiwan 10-2 in eight ends, South Korea rocked New Zealand 15-2 in six ends, and Mexico edged Australia 8-7 in 11 ends.
Japan, South Korea and U.S. lead after opening day with 2-0 records, followed by Canada and Mexico at 1-1. New Zealand, Taiwan and Australia are 0-2.
Einarson settled for a third-place finish at the inaugural edition of the Pan Continental championship last year. She'll play winless Australia on Monday.
In men's round-robin play, Brad Gushue of St. John's, N.L., was upset 8-5 by South Korea's Jongduk Park on Sunday afternoon.
Gushue, the defending champion, needs a top-five finish to book Canada's spot in the March 30-April 7 world playdowns in Schaffhausen, Switzerland.
Gushue, vice-skip Mark Nichols, second E.J. Harnden, lead Geoff Walker and coach Caleb Flaxey also started last season’s Pan Continentals with a loss. In 2022, the United States won the opening round-robin victory against the ´ºÉ«Ö±²¥s.
This year, the ´ºÉ«Ö±²¥s are backed by alternate Jim Cotter from nearby Vernon, B.C., and national coach Jeff Stoughton.
"My draw in the fifth end was the turning point. I threw what I wanted and the ice was a little heavier in one direction than the other and we didn’t catch onto it as early as we should have and it cost us,†said Gushue.
“It’s a challenging environment to curl in; I’m not going to lie. I think there’s enough here to work with where we can play a little bit better than we did today and just hopefully not miss any more draws against two.â€
Team Gushue returns to the Kelowna Curling Club on Monday morning with a game against New Zealand’s Team Anton Hood (1-0). Gushue will then play Korey Dropkin's U.S. team that's skipped by Andrew Stopera.
In other men's games, Riku Yanagisawa of Japan beat Randolph Shen of Taiwan 12-2 in six ends, Dropkin of the U.S. rocked Rayad Husain of Guyana 19-0 in six ends, and Hood of New Zealand edged Jay Merchant of Australia 8-6.
As host, Canada has an automatic entry at the March 16-24 world women's championship in Sydney, N.S.
This report by ´ºÉ«Ö±²¥was first published Oct. 29, 2023.
