page_title: Ana Maria Popescu
section_title: 2008–2012
hierarchical_section_title: Ana Maria Popescu / Career / 2008–2012
caption_attribution_description: English: The “Power Praf” girls (from left to right, Simona Gherman, Anca Măroiu, Loredana Dinu and Ana Maria Brânză) at the 2015 Trofeu International Ciutat de Barcelona, a women's épée World Cup competition.
context_page_description: Ana Maria Popescu, formerly known as Ana Maria Brânză, is a Romanian épée fencer that is ranked world no.1 according to FIE.
  She earned the silver medal in the individual épée event at the 2008 Summer Olympic Games and the gold medal in the 2013 European Fencing Championships. She won the women's épée World Cup series a record-equalling three times, with thirteen World Cup titles to her name. With the Romanian team she was twice World champion and six-times European champion.
  In 2020 she won the Fancing World Cup at Doha.
context_section_description: After the Olympics Brânză began to complain of tendon pain in her weapon hand, but the competition rhythm did not allow her to attend to it. At the 2009 European Championships in Plovdiv she was defeated in the second round by fellow Romanian Anca Măroiu, but secured her third continental team title after Romania defeated successively Russia, Germany and Poland. Teammate Simona Gherman jokingly referred to the team as the “Power Praf girls”, after the Powerpuff Girls anime, because of the hardships of the match against Russia. The nickname stuck. They would later incorporate it in their pre-match battle cry: “We're the Powerpuff Girls and we'll make mincemeat of you!” (Romanian: Suntem fetițele PowerPraf și am venit să vă facem pilaf!)
  Brânză was rested for the Romanian national championships to spare her hand. She arrived with a No.1 ranking to the World Championships in Antalya, but warned beforehand that she was only fencing at 50 to 60% of her ability due to her wrist problems. She was eliminated 9–10 in the table of 16 by Canada's Sherraine Schalm. Romania were defeated in the first round by Italy, again by a single hit, and finished sixth after the placement matches.
  After this failure Brânză resolved to address her wrist issues. Medical investigations in Romania and in France showed that her condition was operable, but that the surgery would likely end her fencing career. She chose instead to take a break in her career to follow a strict recovery program. After a pause of several months, she earned a gold medal in her first two competitions, the Florina and Nanjing 2010 World Cup events. Up to 2012 she suffered from left-wrist pains and had to get medical attention after each competition.
  In the 2010 World Fencing Championships in Paris, Brânză was again eliminated early in the individual event, but won the first Romanian team gold in épée with Simona Gherman, Loredana Dinu and Anca Măroiu. Brânză contributed more than half the hits scored by Romania in the final against Germany. Her last relay against Imke Duplitzer, which she won 18–10, was described as “a real example of technique and tactical intelligence” in an otherwise “quite monotonous” match.
  In 2011 Brânză took the bronze medal in the individual event of the 2011 European Fencing Championships in Sheffield and the gold medal in the team event after defeating Russia 45-31. The victory ceremony was marred by an incident when Trei culori, the former, communist-era national anthem of Romania, was played instead of the current Deșteaptă-te, române! Brânză decided to walk off in protest and convinced her teammates of following her.
  At the 2011 World Fencing Championships in Catania, Brânză was stopped in the semifinals by Sun Yujie of China and was doomed to a bronze medal, the second World Championships medal in her career. In the team event, the “Power Praf girls” saw off easily Great Britain then Poland, but Brânză was hit on her weapon hand during the quarter-finals against Poland and had to get medical attention. She fenced with a bandaged hand and only one relay in the semifinal against Germany, which Romania won with a tight score of 24–23. She was to be rested during the final against China, but was called eventually to replace a stressed out Măroiu. She lost her first relay 1–4 to Sun Yujie, but her 4–1 against Xu Anqi contributed to Romania's sudden-death victory. Brânză was crowned team world champion for the second time in a row. For this performance she, Măroiu and Alexandru, as members of the military club CSA Steaua, received the emblem of honour of the Romanian Army (Romanian: emblema de onoare a Armatei României) and all members of the team received honorary citizenship of Craiova.
  In May 2012, the Romanian team received new kit from their equipment sponsor PBT, including red, yellow, and blue coloured masks which allow them to form as a team the tricolour flag of Romania. Because nobody else wanted it, Brânză opted for the yellow mask, which has since become her trademark. She was considered to carry the flag for Romania at the Olympics, but 
caption: The twice-world champion “Power Praf” girls: from L to R, Gherman, Măroiu, Dinu and Brânză
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