Maria Ruxandra Udrea (born on 23 Novembre 1990) is a Romanian

épée The ( or , ), sometimes spelled epee in English, is the largest and heaviest of the three weapons used in the sport of fencing. The modern derives from the 19th-century , a weapon which itself derives from the French small sword. This contain ...

fencer. She won a team silver medal in the

2013 European Fencing Championships The 2013 European Fencing Championships was held in Zagreb, Croatia from 16–21 June 2013. Venue for the competition was Arena Zagreb. Schedule Medal summary Men's events Women's events Medal table Results overview Men Foil individual ...

Zagreb Zagreb ( , , , ) is the capital and largest city of Croatia. It is in the northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the Medvednica mountain. Zagreb stands near the international border between Croatia and Sl ...

and a bronze medal in the

2013 World Fencing Championships The 2013 World Fencing Championships were held at Budapest, Hungary from 5–12 August. Schedule Medal summary Medal table Men's events Women's events Participating nations 827 fencers from 101 countries competed. * (1) * (13) * ( ...

Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...

Biography

Udrea's first sports were swimming and tennis. She discovered fencing at the age of seven at Olimpia Bucharest, and took to the sport. She first competed in

foil Foil may refer to: Materials * Foil (metal), a quite thin sheet of metal, usually manufactured with a rolling mill machine * Metal leaf, a very thin sheet of decorative metal * Aluminium foil, a type of wrapping for food * Tin foil, metal foil ma ...

. In this weapon, she won a silver medal in the 2008 Cadet European Championships at

Novi Sad Novi Sad ( sr-Cyrl, Нови Сад, ; hu, Újvidék, ; german: Neusatz; see below for other names) is the second largest city in Serbia and the capital of the autonomous province of Vojvodina. It is located in the southern portion of the P ...

, a gold medal in the Junior World Cup in 2009, a bronze medal in the Junior European Championships at Odense that same year, and a silver medal in the 2010 Romanian Championship. In the 2008–09 season, she joined the national senior team, which placed 4th in the

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

in Antalya after being defeated by Italy in the semi-final, then by Germany in the match for the bronze medal. The year after, Romania were knocked out by Venezuela in the first round of the

in Paris. The lack of results and funds pushed the

Romanian Fencing Federation The Romanian Fencing Federation ( ro, Federația Română de Scrimă) is the governing body for the sport of fencing in Romania. Affiliated to the Federation Internationale d'Escrime since 1914, it is a member of the European Fencing Confederation ...

into dissolving the national foil team in early 2011. Udrea then turned to épée. Udrea joined the national Romanian épée team after the reshuffling that followed the London 2012 Summer Olympics. In December 2012 she won the gold medal in the Belgrade Trophy, a satellite event of the

Fencing World Cup The FIE Fencing World Cup is an international fencing competition held by the Fédération Internationale d'Escrime. In each weapon (Men's and Women's Épée, Sabre and Foil (fencing), Foil), three Grand Prix, five World Cup events and several sat ...

. In 2013, she earned a bronze in the team competition of the Saint-Maur World Cup. With her club,

CSA Steaua București Clubul Sportiv al Armatei Steaua București, commonly known as CSA Steaua București () or simply Steaua, is a major multi-sports club based in Bucharest and run by the Ministry of National Defence. It is one of the most successful clubs in Roman ...

, she ranked second in the European Cup in

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

. In March 2013, she won a silver medal in the Romanian national championship after being defeated in the final by teammate

Ana Maria Brânză Ana Maria Popescu, formerly known as Ana Maria Brânză (, born 26 November 1984), is a Romanian left-handed épée fencer. Popescu is a four-time team European champion, 2013 individual European champion, and two-time team world champion. A ...

, with which she won a team gold medal. In July, Udrea won a silver team medal with Brânză,

Simona Pop Simona Pop née Deac (born 25 December 1988) is a retired Romanian épée fencer, bronze medallist at the 2015 European Championships, team silver medallist in the 2015 World Fencing Championships and team European champion in 2014 and 2015. Pe ...

and

Amalia Tătăran Amalia Tătăran (born 15 July 1994 in Satu Mare) is a Romanian épée fencer, team silver medallist at the 2013 European Fencing Championships and team gold medallist at the 2015 European Games. Career Tătăran took up fencing at the age of ...

in the 2013 European Championships in

. In the 2013 World Championships at

, she was defeated in the table of 32 by Italy's

Rossella Fiamingo Rossella Fiamingo (born 14 July 1991) is an Italian left-handed épée fencer and two-time individual world champion. A three-time Olympian, Fiamingo is a 2021 team Olympic bronze medalist and 2016 individual Olympic silver medalist. She is en ...

, but earned the team bronze. She ended up 47th in the

2012–13 Fencing World Cup The 42nd FIE Fencing World Cup began in October 2012 and concluded in July 2013 at the 2013 World Fencing Championships held in Budapest. Andrea Cassarà of Italy won the title for a record fifth time in men's foil, while Romania's Ana Maria Br ...

. In the 2013–14 season, Udrea was selected as reserve for the 2014 European Championships in Strasbourg. In the individual event, she was stopped in the table of 64 by France's

Marie-Florence Candassamy Marie-Florence Candassamy (born 26 February 1991) is a French right-handed épée The ( or , ), sometimes spelled epee in English, is the largest and heaviest of the three weapons used in the sport of fencing. The modern derives from the 19 ...

, who eventually won the silver medal. In the team competition, No.2 seed Romania received a bye, then disposed of Ukraine 45–31, beat Italy 29–24 in the semi-final and overcame Russia 38–34 in a very tight and tactical final, allowing Udrea to win her first international gold medal. Udrea did not compete in the

Kazan Kazan ( ; rus, Казань, p=kɐˈzanʲ; tt-Cyrl, Казан, ''Qazan'', IPA: ɑzan is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Tatarstan in Russia. The city lies at the confluence of the Volga and the Kazanka rivers, covering ...

as Ana Maria Constantin was selected as reserve in her place.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Udrea, Maria 1990 births Living people Sportspeople from Bucharest Romanian female épée fencers