International rinks earn curling Prestige in B.C.
Published 1:00 pm Tuesday, October 6, 2026
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With precision and timing, Switzerland’s Marco Hoesli found himself in the winner’s circle at the Prestige Hotels and Resorts Curling Classic Monday, Oct. 5, at the Vernon Curling Club.
The two-time World Junior Curling silver medalist rallied from an early 4-0 deficit to defeat Japan’s Tsuyoshi Yamaguchi 7-6 in an extra end in Monday’s final.
With the victory, Hoesli will join Prestige Classic women’s champ Eunji Gim of Korea in the field at the Grand Slam of Curling’s Co-Op Invitational Oct. 13 to 18 in Victoria.
Yamaguchi – a six-time World Men’s Curling participant who has won 19 medals at the Japan Curling Championships – had the hammer and opened the scoring in Monday’s final with a deuce.
The Japanese rink – who had Riku Yanagisaw throwing skip stones – upped the lead to 4-0 in the third end by stealing two points.
Hoesli – who had Philipp Hoesli throwing final stones – got on the board with a pair in the four.
The Japanese rink added a single point in the fifth for a 5-2 lead before the Swiss took the lead by scoring back-to-back deuces in the sixth and seventh ends.
Yamaguchi forced the extra end by scoring one in the final end.
Kelowna’s Bob Ursel is the coach of the Japanese squad, who advanced to the final Monday by defeating Victoria’s Matthew hall 7-2 in five ends in a quarterfinal, then knocking off Korea’s JaeBom Lee 4-1 in the semifinals.
Hoesli advanced to the final by defeating Langley’s Richard Krell 7-3 in a quarterfinal, then defeating the Green Machines of Saskatoon 6-2 in six ends in the semis. The Green Machines are skipped by former World Junior champion and Olympic gold medalist Tyler Tardi of Cloverdale.
Gim won the women’s championship, defeating Japan’s Yuina Miura 5-2 in Sunday’s final.
The eight playoff teams in both the women’s and men’s draws pocketed tournament cash.
A total of 48 rinks – 24 in each draw – participated.
The Vernon event was one of five satellite bonspiels to determine rinks to compete in Grand Slam of Curling events.