|
Hall Fails to Advance From Pool Play at
Olympics
UW-Stevens Point assistant
wrestling coach Dennis Hall won his first match, but lost in his second
contest, failing to advance out of pool play at the 2004 Olympics in
Athens, Greece. Hall was competing in Greco-Roman wrestling in the
55-kilogram weight class (121 pounds).
Hall defeated Petr Svehla of
Czech Republic 3-2 and then lost to Oleksiy
Vakulenko of Ukraine 3-0 in the second round. Vakulenko beat Svehla 4-0 in
overtime in the other pool play match and advanced to the quarterfinals.
Svehla finished fourth at last year's world championships and Vakulenko
was 10th.
Against Vehla, the wrestlers grappled to a scoreless first
period and moved into the clinch position (pictured, Hall in blue). Hall was forced to escape
from the clinch within a minute and scored a three-point headlock on Svehla
53 seconds into the clinch. Svehla had a quick reversal to
recover one point and scored about a minute later with another one-point
turn. However, despite being down for most of the second period, Hall was
able to hold off Svehla for the first round win.
Hall's loss to Vakulenko was
a virtual opposite of his earlier victory. The first period was again
scoreless and Vakulenko scored a three-point throw two seconds into the
clinch position. Hall was unable to recover and was eliminated.
The 33-year old Hall attended Hartford High
School and UW-Stevens Point. He was the 1995 Greco-Roman world champion
and has been on the Pointers� coaching staff the past four years. This was
his third Olympic appearance, having captured the silver medal in 1996 at
Atlanta and competed in 1992 in Barcelona, Spain. (photo courtesy The
Mat.com)
|
