Sport in brief

CURLING David Murdoch decisively won the Battle of the Scots at the Grand Slam Masters in Okotoks, Alberta, but Eve Muirhead’s team-mate Anna Sloan suffered a narrow defeat on her return from knee surgery,

Murdoch admitted he was fired up after losing to Tom Brewster at last week’s European Playdowns in Perth, and Kyle Smith was on the receiving end in Canada as the Olympic silver medallist handed out a 9-2 drubbing after counting three stones at the first end and four more at the third.

“We just wanted to start well,” confirmed Murdoch. “We had a goal of coming back and fighting back from last weekend after the disappointment of not being at the Europeans. This tournament is important to us, so we came out with fire today and played some good shots.”

Smith returned later to beat Winnipeg’s Reid Carruthers 5-3.

Team Muirhead, with Sloan back after missing eight tournaments, began well against Korea’s Eun Jung Kim, but an early two-stone lead turned into a 5-2 deficit and they were unable to avoid losing 6-5. SNOOKER Four-time world champion John Higgins faces more soul-searching after another chastening quarterfinal defeat at the International Championship in Daqing, China yesterday,

The Wishaw veteran questioned his future as a serious contender following recent heavy losses to Judd Trump at the European Masters and English Open, and although Higgins made a strong defence of his International title and produced a 145 break in his opening match, national hero Ding Junhui thoroughly outclassed him yesterday 6-2, winning. SQUASH Scottish No.2 Greg Lobban bowed to the inevitable yesterday after a knee injury forced him to take the “brutal” decision to pull out of the World Championships in Cairo just hours before his first round tie with South African Steve Coppinger,