Devlin wins silver in Greco-Roman, and Betts takes gold in women’s division at Olympic Hopes Tournam
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Gary Abbott (USA Wrestling)
08/05/2003
The United States added a number of medals in the Greco-Roman and women's divisions at the Olympic Hopes Tournament in Budapest, Hungary. Paul Devlin (Colorado Springs, Colo./U.S. Army) captured the only U.S. medal in Greco-Roman, winning a silver medal at 120 kg/264.5 lbs. Devlin was defeated 3-0 in the gold-medal finals by an opponent from Iran. The Iranian wrestler scored one point from the clinch position, then added a gut wrench to score the necessary three points. Devlin won two matches in his pool competition to qualify for the gold-medal match, beating opponents from Hungary and Yugoslavia. Placing fourth for the USA in Greco-Roman were Joe Espinoza (Marquette, Mich./USOEC) at 55 kg/121 lbs. and Jacob Plamann at 84 kg/185 lbs. The other U.S. Greco-Roman entry, Willie Madison (Marquette, Mich./Gator WC) placed eighth at 60 kg/132 lbs. In the women's event, Katrina Betts (Milan, Mich./Wolverine) claimed a gold medal at 48 kg/105.5 lbs., winning all three of her matches in a four-athlete roundrobin. Placing second behind Betts was Amantha Hordagoda (Bakersfield, Calif./Cal-Bakersfield), who was pinned in the championship finals by Betts. Hordagoda had an 2-1 record in the tournament. Placing third in a three-athlete weight class was Sharon Jacobson (El Cajon, Calif/UM-Morris) who had an 0-2 record at 59 kg/130 lbs. Earlier in the week, a pair of U.S. freestyle wrestlers captured gold medals in freestyle: Nick Simmons (E. Lansing, Mich./Michigan State WC) at 55 kg/121 lbs. and Nik Fekete (E. Lansing, Mich./Michigan State WC) at 96 kg/211.5 lbs. The coaches for the U.S. athletes were Ivan Ivanov (Greco-Roman), Dr. Dave Bennett (freestyle) and Tim Vanni (women).