By Hritika Sharma
BEIJING (Reuters) – Canada’s Brad Gushue trumped John Shuster of the United States when the Turin 2006 veterans faced off on the Olympic stage for the first time in 16 years in the Beijing Games men’s curling competition at the National Aquatics Centre on Sunday.
Gushue, 41, stole four critical points in the second end to propel Canada to a 10-5 victory over the U.S., further denting the reigning champions’ hopes of reaching the semi-finals after handing them their third defeat in five games so far.
“There’s a few of us relics still kicking around,” said Gushue, who took on the 39-year-old Shuster as well as Italy skip Joel Retornaz, 38, en route to winning gold at the 2006 Games in Turin.
“I enjoy playing John, he’s a fun guy. We’ve been around a long time and battled lots over the years.”
Gushue will face Retornaz on Monday, with Italy currently looking for their first win after losing 10-7 to the Russian Olympic Committee on Sunday.
Niklas Edin’s Sweden left it late to steal a 6-4 win over neighbours Norway and retain their place at the top of the standings with an unbeaten record after five games.
Sweden grabbed a critical point in the ninth end to level the scores before adding two more when Norway skip Steffen Walstad narrowly missed his take-out target with the last stone of the match.
World silver medallists Britain saw off hosts China 7-6 despite only scoring in two ends. Bruce Mouat’s team took four in the second and a crucial three in the eighth, opting to blank the others in order to retain the last-stone advantage.
Teams play nine matches in the round-robin stage, which continues later on Sunday, with the top four advancing to Thursday’s semi-finals.
The women’s competition also continues later on Sunday.
(Reporting by Hritika Sharma; Editing by Ken Ferris)
