Article by Oana Duşmănescu – Published on Thursday, 02 April 2026 23:00 / Updated on Friday, 03 April 2026 00:16
Romanian Matei Radu (16 years old) won the bronze medal, in Rio de Janeiro, in the men's saber event at the World Cadet Championships, after losing the semi-final against Giorgi Urushadze (Georgia, 16 years old), 4-15.
The Saber registered with Dinamo Bucharest ended the preliminary group phase of the cadet competition in 30th place, so he had the first free round on the elimination table.
On the table of the best 64 athletes participating in the World Cup in Rio de Janeiro, the teenager from Bucharest defeated the Hungarian Patrik Radacsi, 15-11, and took the next step, where he passed, with a categorical, 15-6, the Polish Jan Pikur.
Arriving among the first 16 cadet sabers from this edition of the World Championships, Matei Radu, champion of Romania in this category, beat the Mexican Nathan Munguia, 15-10. In the quarter-finals of the most important competition for this age category (15-17 years), the representative of Romania beat the British William Buxton, score 15-9.
The semi-final against the Georgian Giorgi Urushadze was an unbalanced one, in which emotions had their say. At halftime it was 8-4 for the Georgian saber, and after that Matei Radu did not manage to give a single touch. The assault ended 15-4 for Urushadze, leaving Radu with the bronze medal at the World Championships.
Mihnea Velicu finally got 19th place in the cadet competition, and Vlad Crica ranked 44th. Tomorrow, the team competitions of the junior sabers will take place, both for women and men. Coach Irina Covaliu will send Amalia Covaliu, Anastasia Fusea, Alexandra Mitruș and Sofia Corlațescu to the board. The representatives of Romania (seed number 7) will draw directly in the draw of 32 with the representatives of Colombia.
Romania's junior men's team, favorite number 11, coached by Tiberiu Dolniceanu, will consist of Matei Radu, Casian Cîdu, Cristian Macovei and Rareș Munteanu. The tricolors will meet the sabers from Australia in the draw of 32.
The Qimiao Pan phenomenon – gold in both the junior and cadet categories
Matei Radu's medal is the first brought to Romania at this edition of the Junior and Cadet World Championships, after on April 1, on the first day of the competition, the “tricolor” juniors and juniors failed to get on the podium in the individual events.
In the cadet competition, the Chinese Qimiao Pan prevailed, defeating her compatriot Shuhan Yang (15-9) in the final. Pan is the one who won, a day earlier, the junior competition in Rio de Janeiro, prevailing in the last act of the competition in front of the Russian Aleksandra Mikhailova, with 15-12.
Qimiao Pan (China) / PHOTO: FIE
Only 16 years old, Qimiao Pan, defeated in the cadet final by Amalia Covaliu last year, also has a bronze medal in her record at the World Senior Championships, last year, in Tbilisi.
In the cadets, the world title went to American Aiden Tse, who won the final act of the competition 15-10 over Giorgi Urushadze. The other bronze medal went to Kenneth Kong (Sweden).
At the last edition of the WC (2025, Wuxi, China), the Romanian sabers won two medals: gold through Amalia Covaliu in the cadets and silver through Vlad Covaliu, in the juniors. This year, Amalia moved to the juniors, and Vlad to the seniors, after two consecutive seasons in which he finished in first place in the competitive year of juniors worldwide.
