Hall keeps Olympics dreams alive

Hall, a member of the Pointe Claire Canoe Club (PCCC) who burst upon the scene in 1999 as a 17-year-old, winning gold for Canada in the C-1 1,000-metre event at the world junior championships in Croatia, hopes to qualify a spot for Canada in the C-1 1,000-metre event at this summer’s Olympics in Beijing. Canada has already qualified a C-1 500-metre boat for the Games. After that, it’s off to Szeged, Hungary in early June for a dramatic race-off against fellow Canadian Mark Oldershaw. At Szeged, Hall must beat Oldershaw in at least one of the two distances. That will allow him to compete against Oldershaw in a tiebreaker at a regatta in mid-June in Duisberg, Germany. If Hall ends up winning the tiebreaker, an entry to Beijing on a Canadian boat is his. ‘I am feeling very confident about my chances in the C-1 1,000-metre event,” said Hall. “That, despite the fact that Mark is a phenomenal paddler and has been dominant in Canada for about a year.”

Okpro selected by Eskimos

A dream has come true for Sammy Okpro. The Pierrefonds resident was drafted in the fourth round (25th overall) at the recently held Canadian Football League draft by the Edmonton Eskimos. Okpro, an inside defensive back, grew up honing his trade in the North Shore Football League, first with Pierrefonds-based Alexander Park then with the bantam AAA North Shore Lions, midget AAA North Shore Mustangs, CEGEP AAA Vanier Cheetahs and for the past four years, the Concordia Stingers. In seven games last year with the Stingers, Okpro had 30 solo tackles, 13 assists, one interception and three pass breakups. The three-time All-Canadian was the second-leading tackler on the Stingers and he was voted MVP of the year by his teammates. He was the first football Stinger to achieve all-Canadian status three times.

At five-foot-10, 197 pounds, Okpro is blessed with tremendous speed, something that has helped him immensely, not only defending the pass, but returning punts and playing on special teams.