Curling: Canadian Fry to return to action after drunken escapade

[January 04, 2019]  (Reuters) - Canadian Ryan Fry, who took a leave of absence from the team he won an Olympic gold medal with in 2014 after being kicked out of a competition for alcohol-fuelled bad behavior, will return to curling next week.

Fry was serving as a spare with another rink when he and three team mates were thrown out of a World Curling Tour event in Alberta in November for what organizers called unsportsmanlike behavior resulting from excessive drinking.

Fry will make his return at the Jan. 8-13 Grand Slam Curling event in Saskatchewan.

"How we handle adversity can show how strong we can really be," Fry said on Twitter. "2018 threw a few punches...glancing blows. I felt the love and am turning the hatred into fuel."

The 40-year-old has apologized for his actions and said he was committed to taking steps to ensure a similar incident never happens again.

(Reporting by Frank Pingue in Toronto, editing by Ed Osmond)

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Canada's vice Ryan Fry delivers a shot during their men's curling gold medal game against Britain at the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics in the Ice Cube Curling Center in Sochi February 21, 2014. REUTERS/Laszlo Balogh