Curling-Canada's Kennedy regrets language in heated exchange but will not apologise

CORTINA D'AMPEZZO, Italy, Feb 14 : Canada curler Marc Kennedy said on Saturday he regretted using an expletive during a heated conversation with Sweden's Oskar Eriksson during a round-robin game at the Winter Olympics, but added that he had nothing to apologise for after being accused of cheating.

Tensions boiled over on Friday when Brad Jacobs's Canada beat Sweden 8-6, with Niklas Edin's rink alleging their opponents were double touching the stone during the contest.

After Sweden and Canada asked officials to keep an eye on their opponents' deliveries early on, there was a heated exchange between the teams' thirds, Kennedy and Eriksson, towards the end of the game.

Eriksson told Kennedy he would show him a video replay of him touching the stone repeatedly. The Canadian responded with an expletive and was later given a verbal warning by World Curling.

"I probably could have handled it better. But we're human out there and there's a lot of emotions. I'm not going to apologise for defending my teammates and standing up for myself," Kennedy told reporters. 

"My whole life I've been like that if my integrity has been questioned. I've curled my whole life, never once with the intention of getting an advantage through cheating. So when it gets attacked, I get my back up and get a little bit aggressive.

"I could have handled it better. No question. There's young curlers all over Canada that look up to me and my team. I pride myself on making them proud. That's the part that I regret a little bit... Probably the language, I could have done without that."

'WE'LL MAKE ADJUSTMENTS'

Earlier on Saturday, World Curling said it would have officials monitoring for rule violations during the rest of the competition.

Swedish media on Friday