Athlete of the week

Fencer Ana-Maria Popescu

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Florin Orban, 07.12.2021, 13:45

Fencer Ana-Maria Popescu is the only Romanian
athlete to have walked away with a medal in an individual sports discipline, in
this past summer’s Tokyo Olympics. As of late, the Romanian fencer has yet
again confirmed her standing as this past Saturday the defending Olympic
champion won the silver medal in the World Epee Cup in Dubai, Reason enough for
Radio Romania international to designate Ana-Maria Popescu the Athlete of the
week.

In the United Arab Emirates, as part of the MK
Fencing Academy International Epee Cup’s group stage, Ana-Maria’s trail included
wins in the confrontations against UAE challengers Sheikha Al-Zaabi, Fajr
Al-Marzooqi and Afra Abdalla, as well as against Ananya Navalekar of Great Britain.
Ana maria Popescu then fought straight in the quarterfinals, where she had no
problem outclassing Zainab Al-Hosany, also from UAE However, in the final, Ana
maria Popescu was defeated, by the narrowest of margins, 14-15, by Estonia’s Kristina
Lehis, so the Romanian had to make do with the silver medal.

Fencing aficionados better know Ana-Maria Popescu by
her maiden name, Ana-Maria Branza. She was born on 26 November 1984, in
Bucharest. In 2001 Ana Maria compelled recognition for the first time in her
career when she came in first at the World Cadets Championships in Poland. In
2002 she became world juniors champion in Turkey. 2002 was an auspicious year
for Ana Maria, since she surprisingly came in 3rd at the World Seniors’
Championships in Lisbon, Portugal. At the Athens Olympics, in 2004, when all hopes
were pinned on Ana Maria, she unassumingly came in 16th according to
the final rankings. However, the Romanian braced up and won the silver medal at
the Beijing Olympics in 2008. Her feat was Romanian fencing’s best performance at
the Olympic games in China. However, Ana Maria Branza’s career-best occurred in
2016. At the Rio Olympics, Ana Maria won the gold medal in the nations’
competition. In Tokyo, in 2020, the Romanian won the silver medal in the women’s
singles. Ana-Maria Branza’s most recent feat occurred last week, when she was awarded
the World Cup Trophy for the 2020-2021 season.

(Translation by Eugen Nasta)