ACOG - News - IBM

(19 July 1996; Day 0)

Hall Gets Tough Draw as Greco-Roman Group A Set to Begin

American Dennis HALL, the 1995 World Champion at 57kg, drew reigning European champion Seref EROGLU as a first-round opponent in Group A of the Greco-Roman wrestling competition, which begins Saturday at 10:00 at the Georgia World Congress Center.

Group A includes the first five of the 10 weightclasses overall (48kg, 57kg, 68kg, 82kg and 100kg), and concludes Sunday night. The Group B weightclasses (52kg, 62kg, 74kg, 90kg and 130kg) begin with weigh-ins Sunday night. Competition begins Monday morning and concludes Tuesday night.

HALL and EROGLU met in the 1994 World Championships, HALL winning by pin in a match that was close at the time. HALL went on to win the bronze medal that year, while EROGLU placed fifth.

The toughest American draw went to Mujaahid MAYNARD, fifth in the World Championships in 1995 at 48kg. MAYNARD opens against Cuban Wilber SANCHEZ AMITA, the World Champion in 1993 and 1994 who slipped to 10th place in the 1995 World Championships. The two have never met.

``We figured we'd get a tough draw or two,'' United States Greco-Roman head coach Rob HERMANN said. "Dennis HALL beat four world champions when he won the gold last year, so he knows what a tough draw is. We just have to go out there and make our preparation work for us.''

Other U.S. draws: 1992 Olympic bronze medalist Rodney SMITH drew Jose ESCOBAR of Colombia at 68kg; Dan HENDERSON drew two-time World Championships placewinner Pavel FRINTA of the Czech Republic at 82kg; and Jason GLEASMAN drew BA Yanchuan of China at 100kg.

SMITH is opposite his two main rivals, 1995 World Champion Rustam ADZHY of Ukraine and 1992 Olympic gold medalist Attila REPKA of Hungary. REPKA had retired after winning his gold medal but returned to active competition last year, losing to ADZHY in the World Championships finals. The 1988 Olympic gold medalist, Kamandar MADZHIDOV of Belarus, also is in the draw after ending a three-year retirement.

HENDERSON is away from his main competition as well. Thomas ZANDER of Germany, the 1994 World Champion, could meet as a second-round opponent either the man he defeated for his world title, Tuomo KARILA of Finland, or 1995 World Championships silver medalist Gotcha TZITZUASHVILY of Israel, who meet in the first round. Awaiting the survivor is the 1992 Olympic gold medalist Peter FARKAS of Hungary.

The favorites at 100kg, two-time World Champion Mikael LJUNGBERG of Sweden and 1992 Olympic gold medalist Hector MILIAN PEREZ of Cuba, could meet in a rematch of the 1995 World Championships final, won by LJUNGBERG. GLEASMAN could meet MILIAN PEREZ in the quarterfinals.

This is an official publication of the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games Sports Publications Department. Written by Robert Sherrill.



Olympic Factoid
Closing Ceremony of the 1996 Games involved a crew of 2,100 who worked with more than 3,500 performers as well as thousands of athletes who celebrated on the field of Olympic Stadium.