Kleibrink falls to Norberg

CBC.CA – Torino 2006 – Curling – Headlines – Kleibrink falls to Norberg

Shannon Kleibrink dropped her first match of the Olympic curling tournament to Sweden’s Anette Norberg. (CP photo/ Andrew Vaughan)

Last Updated: Mon Feb 13 19:04:53 EST 2006
CBC Sports

Anette Norberg of Sweden defeated Canada’s Shannon Kleibrink 7-5 Monday afternoon in the first draw of the women’s curling tournament at the Torino Olympics.

Norberg, the reigning world champion, broke a 4-4 tie in the eighth end by drawing for two with the hammer.

Kleibrink got one back in the ninth, nailing a hit-and-stick with the final rock to cut Norberg’s lead to 6-5. But Kleibrink surrendered the hammer and couldn’t set up a steal in the tenth.

With her final shot of the match, Kleibrink came up short on an attempt to freeze her stone against Norberg’s near the bottom of the house. That gave Norberg another point and made the Swede’s last rock unnecessary.

Kleibrink and third Amy Nixon curled 72 and 76 per cent, respectively, for the match. Norberg and Swedish third Eva Lund curled 90 and 89 per cent.

Lund made a tricky shot in the fifth end, squeezing her rock between two Canadian guards to take out Canada’s shot stone on the four-foot and set up a score of two for Sweden.

Norberg won the coin toss to start the match with last-rock advantage and blanked the first two ends before scoring two in the third. Kleibrink made a tricky double takeout in the fourth to rescue two points and tie the game.

“We’re playing really well,” Canadian second Glenys Bakker said. “The only difference between the win and the loss was the coin toss. We were trading points for most of the game.”

In other women’s first-draw action Monday afternoon, Norway’s Dordi Nordby defeated Cassie Johnson of the United States 11-6, while defending Olympic champion Rhona Martin of Great Britain edged Denmark’s Dorthe Holm 3-2. Mirjam Ott of Switzerland trounced Diana Gaspari of Italy 11-4 in eight ends.

Women’s play resumes with two draws on Tuesday. Canada will take on the U.S. in the morning and Russia in the evening.

The second draw of the men’s tournament goes Monday evening, with Canada’s Brad Gushue playing his first game of the tournament, taking on Germany’s Andy Kapp.

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