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. Einarson in action during the bronze medal match between Canada and Sweden of the LGT World Women's Curling Championship at Goransson Arena in Sandviken, Sweden, Sunday, March 26, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP-TT News Agency, Jonas Ekstromer
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.
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.
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, Japan’s Satsuki Fujisawa beat New Zealand’s Jessica Smith 9-4 and American Tabitha Peterson topped Australia’s Jennifer Westhagen 10-4.
Canada will play Japan in the evening draw.
In men’s play, Brad Gushue of St. John’s, N.L., will open his round-robin schedule against South Korea’s Jongduk Park on Sunday afternoon.
Play continues through Saturday.
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.
Einarson settled for a third-place finish at the inaugural edition of the Pan Continental championship last year.
As host, Canada has an automatic entry at the March 16-24 world women’s championship in Sydney, N.S.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 29, 2023.
