Update: Mensah-Stock wins gold at the Sassari City Pellicone Memorial in Italy, a UWW ranking tournament

Tamyra Mensah-Stock of the USA receives her gold medal at 68 kg at the Sassari City Pellicone Memorial in Italy, a UWW Ranking Tournament. Photo by Joe Kania, FloWrestling.

SASSARI, Italy – 2018 World bronze medalist Tamyra Mensah-Stock (Colorado Springs, Colo./Titan Mercury WC/OTC) won the gold medal at 68 kg at the Sassari City Matteo Pellicone Memorial International, a UWW Ranking Tournament
Mensah-Stock defeated 2018 World silver medalist Danielle Lappage of Canada in the finals, 4-0. Mensah-Stock scored a pair of first-period takedowns to secure the lead, and controlled the action throughout the match.
It was Mensah-Stock’s third victory in a UWW Ranking Tournament this year. She also won gold medals at the first two UWW Ranking Tournaments, the Ivan Yarygin Grand Prix in Russia and the Dan Kolov International in Bulgaria. Add in a title at the Pan American Championships, which also scores points in the UWW Ranking Series.
Mensah-Stock opened with a 10-0 technical fall over Maryia Mamashuk of Belarus in round one, then stopped Meerim Zhumanazarova of Kyrgyzstan, 7-1 in the quarterfinals. In the semifinals, Mensah-Stock scored three second-period takedowns to stop Anastasia Bratchikova of Russia, 9-2.
Mensah-Stock came into the event ranked No. 2 in the UWW Ranking Series in her weight class. With her gold medal, Mensah-Stock added eight points plus six points for there being fewer than 10 entries in his weight class. Her UWW Ranking Series point total increased to 73 points. She will remain at No. 2, since Alla Cherkasova of Ukraine, who did not enter the event in Italy, remains on top with 92 points.
Two U.S. athletes were defeated in the bronze-medal round, 2018 World bronze medalist Mallory Velte (Sacramento, Calif./Titan Mercury WC) at 62 kg and 2012 Olympian Kelsey Campbell (Tempe, Ariz./Sunkist Kids WC) at 57 kg.
Campbell placed fourth, after losing in her bronze-medal bout to Laurence Beauregard of Canada, 8-2. Beauregard scored a takedown and scored on three ankle lace turns to take a commanding 8-0 lead in the match. It was a rematch of a first-round battle, which Campbell had won by a 2-1 margin
Campbell won both of her matches in Pool B beating Beauregard and Madina Bakbergenova of Kazakhstan, 5-0. In the cross-bracketed semifinals, she was defeated by Pool A runner-up Kumari Manju of India, 3-1.
Velte placed fifth after falling to Lais Nunes de Oliveira of Brazil, 2-1 in a bronze-medal match. Velte led 1-1 late in the match, holding the tiebreaker, but Nunes forced a stepout with less than three seconds left to win the bout, 2-1. Velte had defeated Nunes in the bronze-medal bout at the 2018 World Championships by a 2-1 margin.
Velte beat 2016 Olympic bronze medalist Sakshi Malik of India, 2-2 in her opening bout, then stopped 2017 Asian bronze medalist Ayaulym Kassymova of Kazakhstan, 9-2 in the quarterfinals. In the semifinals, on a last second takedown, Velte lost to 2010 World bronze medalist Henna Johansson of Sweden, 3-2.
Velte entered the event at No. 3 in the UWW Ranking Series in their weight class. By placing fifth, Velte adds two UWW ranking points for the placement, plus eight points for having between 11-20 wrestlers in her weight class in Italy. Her total moves up to 53 points, which keeps her at No. 3 for the time being.
"The ladies wrestled well today. I thought we had some great assertiveness and fight today. We were moving well on our feet," said National Women's Coach Terry Steiner. "Tamyra overcame a lot of obstacles just to get here. She arrived after midnight last night then woke up and spent an hour making weight. She mentally had to be strong because her body was not at its best."
"Kelsey and Mallory had great hand fighting and movement. We just missed a few opportunities we had to score. We are getting better. I am really proud of the way all three athletes competed. A little fine tuning will take them a long way. It was a very strong competition and all of them were in medal matches. No matter what happens at this stage of the game, we need to stay healthy and continue to improve. We did that today," he said.
Men’s freestyle competition will be held on Saturday. No members of USA Wrestling’s Freestyle National Team will compete in Italy on Saturday, but there will be athletes from two Div. III teams (Case Western Reserve and John Carroll) which are entered.
The event is broadcast live by FloWrestling. Sassari is six hours ahead of U.S. Eastern time zone.
This story will be updated with the complete results in all weight classes.
SASSARI CITY MATTEO PELLICONE MEMORIAL INTERNATIONAL

At Sassari, Italy, May 24

Women’s freestyle medalists

50 kg
Gold - Seema (India)
Silver - Daria Leksina (Russia)
Bronze - Fredrika Ida Petersson (Sweden)
Bronze - Jacqueline Del Rocio Mollocana Eleno (Ecuador)
53 kg
Gold - Ekaterina Poleshchuk (Russia)
Silver - Hyungjoo Kim (Korea)
Bronze - Luisa Elizabeth Valverde Melendres (Ecuador)
Bronze - Diana Weicker (Canada)
55 kg
Gold - Sofia Mattsson (Sweden)
Silver - Vanesa Kaladzinskaya (Belarus)
Bronze - Viktoriia Vaulina (Russia)
57 kg
Gold - Grace Bullen (Norway)
Silver - Pooja Dhanda (India)
Bronze - Alexandria Town (Canada)
Bronze - Lissette Alexandra Antes Castillo (Ecuador)
59 kg
Gold - Linda Morais (Canada)
Silver - Kumari Manju (India)
Bronze - Laurence Beauregard (Canada)
62 kg
Gold - Henna Johannson (Sweden)
Silver - Elmira Gambarova (Azerbaijan)
Bronze - Malin Johanna Mattsson (Sweden)
Bronze - Lais Nunes de Oliveira (Brazil)
65 kg
Gold - Gabriella Sleisz (Hungary)
Silver - Aina Temirtassov (Kazakhstan)
Bronze - Braxton Stone (Canada)
68 kg
Gold - Tamyra Mensah-Stock (USA)
Silver - Danielle Lappage (Canada)
Bronze - Divya Kakran (India)
Bronze - Anastasia Bratchikova (Russia)
72 kg
Gold - Anna Jenny Fransson (Sweden)
Silver - Zhamila Bakbergenova (Kazakhstan)
Bronze - Tatiana Kolesnikova Morozova (Russia)
76 kg
Gold - Erica Wiebe (Canada)
Silver - Natalia Vorobeva (Russia)
Bronze - Aline Focken (Germany)
Bronze - Epp Mae (Estonia)


U.S. Women’s Freestyle performances
57 kg/125.6 lbs. – Kelsey Campbell (Tempe, Ariz./Sunkist Kids), 4th place
WIN Laurence Beauregard (Canada), 2-1
WIN Madina Bakbergenova (Kazakhstan), 5-0
LOSS Kumari Manju (India), 3-1
LOSS Laurence Beauregard (Canada), 8-2
62 kg/136.6 lbs. – Mallory Velte (Sacramento, Calif./Titan Mercury WC), 5th place
WIN Sakshi Malik (India), 2-2
WIN Ayaulym Kassymova (Kazakhstan), 9-2
LOSS Henna Johansson (Sweden), 3-1
LOSS Lais Nunes de Oliveira (Brazil), 2-1
68 kg/149.9 lbs. – Tamyra Mensah-Stock (Colorado Springs, Colo./Titan Mercury WC/OTC), gold medal
WIN Maryia Mamashuk (Belarus), tech. fall 10-0
WIN Meerim Zhumanazarova (Kyrgyzstan), 7-1
WIN Anastasia Bratchikova (Russia), 9-2
WIN Danielle Lappage (Canada), 4-0