Canada’s Gushue tops China’s Xu 7-4 at Pan Continental curling championship

By The Canadian Press on October 31, 2024.

Canada's Brad Gushue tuned up for the playoffs Thursday by posting a 7-4 victory over China's Xiaoming Xu at the Pan Continental curling championship. Gushue celebrates during the final at the Brier, in Regina, Sunday, March 10, 2024. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

LACOMBE, Alta. – Canada’s Brad Gushue tuned up for the playoffs Thursday by posting a 7-4 victory over China’s Xiaoming Xu at the Pan Continental curling championship.

Gushue, from St. John’s, N.L., closed out the win by making a double-takeout for a single in the 10th end.

His team of vice Mark Nichols, second Brendan Bottcher and lead Geoff Walker were unbeaten in round-robin play at 7-0. Canada will play Japan’s Shinya Abe in the semifinals on Thursday evening.

Japan (4-3) fell into fourth place after dropping an 8-2 decision to American John Shuster (6-1), who will meet Xu (4-3) in the other semifinal.

In other early games, New Zealand’s Anton Hood dumped Taiwan’s Ken Hsu 13-3 and South Korea’s Jaebeom Lee outscored Australia’s Hugh Millikin 9-7.

South Korea finished at 3-4 ahead of Australia and New Zealand at 2-5. Winless Taiwan (0-7) was relegated to the B division next year.

In women’s play, Ottawa’s Rachel Homan was scheduled to meet Japan’s Miyu Ueno on Thursday afternoon in a battle of 6-0 rinks.

Both teams have qualified for the semifinals Friday morning. South Korea’s Eunji Gim (4-2) has also secured a playoff spot while American Cory Thiesse (3-3) and China’s Rui Wang (3-3) remained in contention.

Competition continues through Saturday at the Gary Moe Auto Group Sportsplex. The event is a qualifier for the 2025 world championships.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 31, 2024.