Mensah-Stock advances to Matteo Pellicone finals, five others to wrestle for bronze

ROME, Italy – Tamyra Mensah-Stock advanced to the finals of the Matteo Pellicone International on Thursday in Rome, Italy, which is the first UWW Ranking Series event of 2020.

The returning World champion at 68 kg, Mensah-Stock went 3-0 in the first session. To open her tournament, she defeated two-time Olympian from Nigeria Blessing Oborududu, 3-1.

In the quarterfinals, Mensah-Stock went head-to-head with three-time age-group World champion and two-time Senior World medalist Koumba Larroque from France. Larroque carried a 3-0 lead into the break. In the second period, Mensah-Stock used a step out and a four-point trip to propel her to a 6-3 win.

Her semifinals bout ended early has her opponent, 2013 Senior World champion and 2019 World silver medalist Alina Berezhna Stadnik, was injured during the match.

For gold, Mensah-Stock will take on two-time Senior World medalist Feng Zhou of China.

11 other wrestlers represented the USA on Thursday. Of those 11, five will wrestle for bronze later today.

Alli Ragan, Jenna Burkert and Kayla Miracle will represent the women’s freestyle squad, while RaVaughn Perkins and Jon Stefanowicz will represent the U.S. Greco-Roman team.

Two-time World silver medalist Ragan and three-time World Team member Burkert will each battle for bronze at 57 kg. Ragan will take on three-time age-group World medalist Alina Akobiia of Ukraine, and Burkert will challenge 2019 World champion Linda Morais of Canada.

Wrestling at 62 kg, 2019 Pan Am Games champion Miracle will face Jia Long from China.

Perkins and Stefanowicz hope to close out the Greco portion with two more medals for the USA.

At 77 kg, Perkins will wrestle 2015 Pan Am Games champion and 2019 Pan Am Games runner-up Wulleixis Rivas Espinosa of Venezuela.

Stefanowicz, who competed at 82 kg today, will battle 2019 World Military Games bronze medalist Florian Neumaier of Germany.

Medal matches begin Thursday at 12 p.m. (noon) ET live on Flowrestling.org.

MATTEO PELLICONE INTERANTIONAL

at Rome, Italy

Women’s freestyle results
57 kg: Alli Ragan (Sunkist Kids/Hawkeye WC)
WIN Iryna Chykhradze Khariv (Ukraine), injury default
WIN Elena Brugger (Germany), 10-0
LOSS Odunayo Adekuoroye (Nigeria), 10-3
vs. Alina Akobiia (Ukraine)

57 kg: Jenna Burkert (Army WCAP)
WIN Maria Simonyan (Russia), 5-5
WIN Ramona Galambos (Hungary), 1-1
WIN Laura Mertens (Germany), 4-2
LOSS Anshu Anshu (India), 10-0
vs. Linda Morais (Canada)

62 kg: Kayla Miracle (Sunkist Kids/Hawkeye WC)
WIN Nathaly Griman Herrera (Venezuela), fall 5:17
WIN Lais Nunes de Oliveira (Brazil), 4-0
WIN Aminat Adeniyi (Nigeria), fall 4:43
LOSS Aisuluu Tynybekova (Kyrgyzstan), fall 1:42
vs. Jia Long (China)

62 kg: Mallory Velte (Titan Mercury WC) – eliminated
WIN Marianna Sastin (Hungary), 5-4
LOSS Liubov Ovcharova (Russia), 6-4
LOSS Iryna Koliadenko (Ukraine), 3-1

62 kg: Macey Kilty (Sunkist Kids/USOPTC/TarHeel WC) – eliminated
WIN Sonam (India), 10-0
LOSS Aisuluu Tynybekova (Kyrgyzstan), 10-0
LOSS Jia Long (China), 3-1

68 kg: Tamyra Mensah-Stock (Titan Mercury WC/USOPTC)
WIN Blessing Oborududu (Nigeria), 3-1
WIN Koumba Larroque (France), 6-3
WIN Alina Berezhna Stadnik (Ukraine), injury default
vs. Feng Zhou (China)

68 kg: Victoria Francis (Titan Mercury WC) – eliminated
LOSS Anastasija Grigorjeva (Latvia), 12-3

Greco-Roman results
72 kg: Raymond Bunker (Marines) – eliminated
LOSS Maksym Yevtushenko (Ukraine), 4-1

77 kg: RaVaughn Perkins (New York AC/USOPTC)
WIN Pat Smith (USA), 4-0
LOSS Zoltan Levai (Hungary), 5-0
WIN Furkan Bayrak (Turkey), 3-1
vs. Wulleixis Rivas Espinosa (Venezuela),

77 kg: Pat Smith (Minnesota Storm) – eliminated
LOSS RaVaughn Perkins (USA), 4-0

77 kg: Kamal Bey (Sunkist Kids) – eliminated
WIN Nurbek Khashimbekov (Uzbekistan), 14-5
LOSS Wulleixis Rivas Espinosa (Venezuela), 7-5

82 kg: John Stefanowicz (Marines)
WIN Bing Lin (Taipei), 9-0
LOSS Singh Gurpreet (India), 5-0
vs. Florian Neumaier (Germany)