Hardie leads

Shock for women in Beijing

Grant Hardie secured a home win for Scotland yesterday when he led his team to victory in the Aberdeen international curling championship final.

The Dumfries skip’s rink of Blair Fraser (Inverness), Duncan Menzies (Forfar) and David Reid ( Kilmarnock) beat China’s Rui Liu 5-2 in a keenly contested final at Curl Aberdeen.

Hardie led from the start in the final, taking a oneshot lead after the first end. His opponent levelled the game in the second end but Hardie moved 3-1 in front after the third, a position from which his opponent never recovered.

Liu reduced to deficit to 3-2 but another double in the fifth end made it 5-2 for Hardie. The scoring remained unchanged after two further ends as Hardie triumphed.

The win capped a fine weekend for Hardie, who beat Dayna Deruelle 7-2 in the quarter-final before beating Winnipeg’s Mike McEwen 7-3 in the semifinal to secure his place in yesterday’s final.

Aberdeen’s Tom Brewster, manager at Curl Aberdeen, failed to make it through to the last eight after his team finished with

FINAL FLOURISH: Skip Grant Hardie delivers a stone during the final