Edmonton’s Heather Nedohin is off to a terrific start as she defends her Prestige Hotels & Resorts Curling Classic title at the Vernon Curling Club.
After opening the $40,000 cashspiel with a 3-2 win over New Westminster’s Kelley Law Thursday morning, Nedohin improved to 3-0 with wins over a pair of Asian rinks. She iced Japan’s Ayumi Ogasawara 5-6 Thursday night, followed by a 4-3 win over Korea’s Ji-Sun Kim Friday afternoon.
Nedohin faces Saskatchewan’s Stephanie Lawton (3-0) at 7 p.m. for one of eight playoff qualifying berths.
Bingyu (Betty) Wang outgunned her competition, grounding Minnesota’s Allison Pottinger 9-4, Scotland’s Eve Muirhead 8-4 and Cloverdale’s Marla Mallett 8-4 to advance to the other Friday-night qualifier against Calgary’s Amy Nixon.
Playoffs for the triple-knockout competition begin Sunday, with quarterfinals at 9 a.m., semis at noon and the championship game at 4 p.m.
On the men’s side, a pair of Vernon rinks have won their opening draws Friday at the Vernon club.
Defending champion Jim Cotter, featuring new skip John Morris, brushed back Kamloops’ Brent Yamada 5-2 Friday morning, while TJ Perepolkin stopped Edmonton’s Jamie King 9-5 in his opening draw.
Vernon’s Mark Longwork fell 7-1 to China’s Rui Liu.
Check out Sunday sports in the Morning Star for a complete recap of both men’s and women’s action from the Thursday and Friday draws.
