Athlete of the Week – Wrestler Andreea Ana

Andreea Ana won bronze at the World Wrestling Championships.

Florin Orban, 23.09.2025, 13:45

Last week, the World Wrestling Championships took place in Zagreb, Croatia. Romania was represented by 10 athletes. The goal set by the Romanian Wrestling Federation, namely obtaining at least one medal, was achieved by Andreea Ana. She won bronze in the 55-kilogram category, which is why Radio Romania International has designated her Athlete of the Week.

In Zagreb, the women’s competition in the 55-kilogram category started on Monday, September 15. Ana defeated Chinese Xuejing Liang in the preliminaries. In the round of 16, she knocked out American wrestler Cristelle Noelle Rodriguez, then won the quarterfinals against Canadian athlete Karla Lorena Godinez Gonzalez. However, she lost her semifinal match to Ekaterina Verbina of Russia, and on Tuesday she competed in the bronze final against an athlete who came from the qualifiers – Yaynelis Sanz of Cuba, whom Andreea defeated, and the victory brought her the bronze medal.

Andreea Beatrice Ana was born in Mangalia, on November 14, 2000. In 2018, she won the bronze medal at the World Under-23 Championships in Bucharest. A year later, also in the Romanian capital, she won the bronze medal at the European Senior Championships, a performance she repeated in 2021 in Warsaw. She represented Romania at the Tokyo Olympics, where she finished 16^th. She then won a number of gold medals in major competitions, namely at the World Youth Championships in Belgrade, then at the European Youth Championships in Plovdiv and, finally, at the European Championships in Budapest in 2022. In Hungary, she managed to win the first gold medal for women’s wrestling in a senior continental championship, winning in the 55-kg category. She defended her European champion title in 2023, in Zagreb, then in 2024, in Bucharest. At the Paris Olympics, she reached the repechage of the 53-kg category, where she was defeated by North Korean Choe Hyo-gyong, who later won bronze. At the European Championships held this year in Slovakia, she won silver in the 53-kg category. (VP)