Rice sisters
rack up wins
in badminton
championships

NORTH SHORE _badmin-
ton players representing the
Hollyburn Country Club
dominated the 1992 provin-
cial championships held
Feb. 14 to 16 in Kelowna,
reaching 17 out of a possi-
ble 20 finals.

The group brought home a
whopping 13 championship titles.

Topping the list of winners was
Anna Rice, 11, who won a triple
crown in the under-!2 category. .

She teamed with Weedy McGili,
ll, in the girls’ doubies and with
Bryen Mascoe, 11, to win the
mixed doubles event.

The Rice family had players in
six final matches.

Anna Rice won three gold
medals, Am;, 13, won one gold
and twe silver.

Allison Rice (also a_ previous
provincia] champion in the
under-I2 and under-14 age
categories) was the Canadian
under-16 girls’ singles champion
last year.

Amy and Allison wili be off to
Toronto to compete in the junior
national championships.

tn the under-14 age category,

- Andrea Woo, 13, Amy Rice and
Stuart Louie, i3, all reached three
finals.

Woo also won the girls’ singles
and the mixed doubles, while Amy
Rice won the gicls? doubles with
partner Lindsay Gordon of Vic-
toria.

Louie won the boys’ singles and
the doubles with partner Ian Veiel

of Vancouver.

The Louie family was also well
represented in six finals with
Stuart Louie proudly bringing
home two golds and one silver,

_ and Gregory Louie, 15, winning

three silver medals.

In the under-16 events, Gregory
Louie is currently ranked No. 2 in
the singles event in Canada and
was the only under-16 player to
reach all three finals. ~

Nancy Reid, 15, who is also
ranked second in the singles event

_in Canada, won the singles and

partnered with Gregory, won the
silver in the mixed doubles event.

Ali Paterson, 15, won the girls
doubles playing with Jennifer
Wong of Vancouver.

Mike Bonderove, 15, won the
boys’ singles in a spectacular
match against Gregory. The two
boys also won siiver medals in the
doubles event.

In the under-19 age group,
Elma Ong, 17, and sister Moira
Ong, 17, dominated with Elma
reaching all three finals.

Moira Ong won the singles and
the sisters won the doubles.

Eima Ong, partnered with
Silversta Ng of Vancouver, won
the silver medal in the mixed
doubies.

Head pro Zip Dhenani was
ecstatic over the record-setting
weekend for ‘‘the biggest, most
important championship in B.C.”

“‘With only three weeks to go
before the national championships
in Toronto, these remarkable
results couldn’t have come at a
better time,”’ said Dhanani.

Hollyburn hosts tourney

THE B.C. Badminton champion-
ships, scheduled for the Hollyburn
Country Club in West Vancouver
from March 6-8, will feature an
international reunion.

Amrit Dewan of Dayton, Ohio
will team -in the 60-plus men’s
doubles with Montreal profes-

sional Damon Chawia, whom he
played in India some 40 years ago.

Fresh from his recent victory at
the United States Masters Cham-
pionship. in Manhattan Beach,
California, Dewan will also com-

See Over page 14

e News - 13

NEWS photo Pau! McGrath

HOLLYBUAN’S RICE sisters: Eleven-year old Anna (foreground) and Amy (left), 13, made great
showings at the 1992 provincial badminton championships in Kelowna. Their elder sister Allison
(right) was the Canadian under-16 giris’ singles champion last year.

First curling matches played on frozen rivers

THE FIRST evidence of curling was found in Scotland in
. the 16th century, but it wasn’t until about 1760 that curl-

ing was brought to Canada.

For years, curling games were
played in frozen lakes and rivers.

In 1807, the Montreal Curling
Club became the first organized
sports club in North America.
Over the next 50 years curling
spread across the country.

The first major curling competi-
tion was the MacDonald Brier
“Tankard, the Canadian men’s
curling championship, which
started in 1927,

The word ‘‘Brier’’ was a pro-
duct name of the MacDonald
tobacco company.

There was a small heart-shaped
piece of the tin pressed into the
heart of the tobacco and so the
heart became the symbol of ex-
celience in Canadian curling.

By Linda Moore
Contributing Writer

(Provincial men’s champions earn
the purple heart, a crest that is
worn proudly by each player on
the team.)

The Brier was played at the
Toronto Granite Club from 1927
to 1940. And then after a break
during the Second World War, the
Brier was moved to sites across
Canada.

B.C. was first represented by a
team in 1936, and the only B.C.
winners in the history of the event
were teams skipped by Frenchy
D’Amour of Trail (1948) and
Lyall Dagg of Vancouver (1964).

. championship began in

The length of games changed
over time, with games lasting 14
ends in 1927, 12 ends from 1928
to 1976, and 10 ends since i977.

In 1980 the Labatt brewing
company assumed sponsorship,
retaining the Brier name but pres-
enting the national winner with
the prized Labatt Tankard
Trophy.

The start of a women’s national
1952,
sponsored a

competition
Saskatchewan

when Eaton’s
Western Canadian
involving Alberta,
and Manitoba.

There were provincial tourna-
ments in 1952 and 1953 playing
for the Collinson Trophy, donated
by Ernie Coilinson, a jewelry store
owner in Nelson. But it wasn’t
until 1954 that a B.C. team went
to the Eaton’s Western Ladies
Championship.

The competition became na-
tional in 1961, with event sponsors
over a 20-year period including
Dominion Stores (the ‘‘Diamond
D” 1961 to 1967) and the Mac-
Donald tobacco company (the
““Lassie’’ from 1973 to 1979).

In 1982, Scott Paper Ltd.
became the sponsor of the cham-
pionship, now named the ‘‘Scott
Tournament of Hearts.’”*

Provincial champions. still
receive the heart-shaped red crests
that they won during the Lassie,
but also earn beautiful necklaces.
Diamond rings have been added
to the national winner's prize list.

B.C. teams to win the national
event were skipped by: Ina
Hansen (1962 and 1964), Lindsay
Davie Sparkes (1976 and 1979),
Linda Moore (1985), Pat Sanders
(1987) and Julie Sutton (1991).

During February and March

curling competitions in Canada
abound.

There are national events for
juniors (men and women under 19
years old). Senior men and women
(over the age of 50), and mixed
teams (comprised of two men and
two women) also have Canadian
championships.

Some other events include a
Western Canadian Championship
for Masters {men over age 60), a
blind curling competition, and the
national deaf championship.

Years of exciting play have led
to some amazing records in the
Canadian men’s curling event.

Bernie Sparkes represented both
B.C. and Alberta an incredible 12
times in the Brier. He played with
Ron Northcott of Alberta when
they won three world champion-

See Curlers page 414