Simona Pop

Simona Pop
Personal information
Country represented	Romania
Born	25 December 1988 Satu Mare, Transylvania
Residence	Bucharest
Weapon(s)	Épée
Hand	Left-handed
Height	1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)
Weight	62 kg (137 lb; 9.8 st)
National coach(es)	Dan Podeanu
Club	CSA Steaua București
Head coach(es)	Gheorghe Epurescu, Cornel Milan
FIE Ranking	current ranking
Medal record World Championships 2015 Moscow Team 2013 Budapest Team European Championships 2014 Strasbourg Team 2015 Montreux Team 2013 Zagreb Team 2015 Montreux Individual

Simona Pop née Deac (born 25 December 1988) is a 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.

Personal life

Pop took up fencing at CS Satu Mare, one of the main fencing centres in Romania, under the coaching of Francisc Csiszar who went on to train her for twelve years.

She obtained her bacalaureat, majoring in mathematics and computer science, at the Mihai Eminescu National College. She studies accounting and information management at the Vasile Goldiș Western University of Arad.

In 2012 she married Adrian Pop, a member of Romania's national men's épée team.^[1]

Career

Pop earned a silver medal at the 2008 Junior World Championships in Acireale, then at the 2009 Summer Universiade in Belgrade. She was briefly selected into the national team during the injury of team captain Ana Maria Brânză, then served as reserve upon Brânză's return. She became Romania's number 2 in the reshuffling that followed the 2012 Summer Olympic Games and the retirement of Simona Gherman, Anca Măroiu, and Loredana Dinu. She also transferred to CSA Steaua București, of which national team colleagues Brânză and Maria Udrea are also members.

Pop (2nd to left) with the Romanian team at the 2014 European Championships

In the 2012–13 season Pop received a bronze team medal in the Saint-Maur World Cup, then a silver medal in the European Champion Clubs' Cup with CSA Steaua.^[2] She ranked 16th in the European Championships in Zagreb, but won a silver medal in the team event. She made it to the semi-finals in the 2013 Summer Universiade in Kazan, but was defeated by China's Sun Yiwen and took a bronze medal.^[3] At the 2013 World Championships in Budapest, she went past European silver medal Francesca Quondamcarlo, but was stopped in the table of 32 by Courtney Hurley of the United States. In the team event, Romania was defeated in semi-finals by Russia, and competed against France in the match for the third place. Entering her last leg on a 21–24 score for France, Pop equalised 25-25 against Auriane Mallo, allowing team captain Ana Brânză to win the match.^[4] Pop finished the season No.26 in World rankings, a career best as of 2014.

In the 2013–14 season Pop took a gold team medal at the Doha World Cup. At the European Championships she ceded in the first round to France's Joséphine Jacques-André-Coquin, who eventually won a bronze medal. In the team event, Romania easily prevailed over Ukraine, Pop being the main points contributor to the match.^[5] They had a tighter victory against Italy in the semi-final. In the final they met No.1 seed Russia. Pop was the first Romanian to win her bout against the Russians, allowing Brânză to equalize, then Gherman to close the match on a Romania victory.^[5] At the World Championships in Kazan, Pop was defeated by Auriane Mallo in the preliminary table of 64. In the team event Romania was stopped in the quarter-finals by Italy and finished 5th after the placement rounds.

The 2014–15 season saw the return to competition in early 2015 of Anca Măroiu and Loredana Dinu. Pop kept however her place as Romanian No.3 thanks to a solid team performance, especially at the Buenos Aires World Cup where she posted a +14 total in the semi-finals against Russia and defeated Tatiana Logunova 8–0 in the eighth relay. In May she won her first national championship after defeating teammate Anca Măroiu.^[6] In early June she reached the semifinals at the 2015 European Championships, where she lost to reigning world champion Rossella Fiamingo, and came away with a bronze medal.

References

1. "Campionii de la scrimă, Simona Deac și Adrian Pop s-au cununat religios". ProSport (in Romanian). 7 October 2012.
2. "Spadasinele de la Steaua, argint la Cupa Europei". Sport Total FM (in Romanian). 25 March 2013.
3. "Simona Pop, prima medalie românească la Universiada de la Kazan, bronz la spadă" (in Romanian). Agerpres. 7 July 2013.
4. Roxana Fleșeru (12 August 2013). "Echipa feminină de spadă a cucerit la Budapesta medalia de bronz". Gazeta Sporturilor (in Romanian).
5. Cezara Paraschiv (12 June 2014). "România, peste Rusia. Aur pentru Gherman, Brânză, Pop şi Udrea la Europenele de spadă feminin, cu echipa". ProSport (in Romanian).
6. Cezara Paraschiv (9 May 2015). "Surpriză la Naţionalele de spadă: tot CSA Steaua domină, dar campioană este o altă Simona". ProSport (in Romanian).

External links

• Profile at the European Fencing Confederation