Athlete of the Week – Fencer Tiberiu Dolniceanu

Dolniceanu won the Saber World Cup in Moscow.

Florin Orban, 25.03.2014, 13:16

Romanian fencer Tiberiu Dolniceanu won the Saber World Cup in Moscow, where he outperformed Kim Junghyun of South Korea in the finals, score 15-10. The Romanian fencer had a good run in the preliminary rounds, where he brushed aside Tomohiro Shimamura of Japan 15-7 in the first round, and Gabriele Foschini of Italy 15-7 in the second round. In the eighth finals, Dolniceanu knocked out Nicolas Rousset of France, 15-10. In the quarterfinals, the Romanian fencer went up against Luigi Miracco of Italy, whom he defeated 15-12. The semifinals pitted Dolniceanu against Matyas Szabo of Germany, a most difficult opponent. Dolniceanu however grabbed a narrow 15-14 win. That was the second title in the last four rounds of the World Cup in 2014 for Dolniceanu, who is as of now the leader of the World Cup tables.

The other Romanian fencers competing in Moscow, Ciprian Galatanu, Dragos Sarbu and Alin Badea were knocked out as early as the second preliminary round. In the team competition, Romania ranked only 8th after defeating the UK in the first round 45-34, but losing to Italy in the second round 45-40.

Aged 25, Dolniceanu was born in Iasi, north-eastern Romania. At the 2013 World Fencing Championships he won bronze in the singles competition and silver with Romania’s team. His record sheet also includes a gold medal at the 2009 World Championships in Turkey and a bronze medal at the 2010 World Championships in France. The best performance of his career so far is the Olympic silver medal in the team competition at the 2012 London Olympics.