Paialunga wins Winter Games gold

Paialunga, who plays second for her rink skipped by Ken Gregory, won four of five round-robin contests to set up a final with Carl Levesque.

The Gregory crew built a 5-0 lead after the first two ends, but wound up needing a single in the ninth to thwart Team Levesque’s comeback attempts. The final score read 8-7 in Gregory’s favour to give Paialunga the gold.

“We’d like to win the provincial this year,” Paialunga said in an interview after her rink won a bronze medal at the Winter Games’ November qualifying event in Ottawa. “However, it’s not our overall goal.”

The next goal for the Gregory rink is to win a national title in 2011, which would then lead to an appearance in the world championships. After being passed over in favour of British Columbia-based individuals to represent Canada at the 2010 Paralympics, the long-term goal Paialunga holds is to compete in the 2014 Paralympic Games in Sochi, Russia.

“We’ve got another four years to get working on being the best team,” she added.