This is not the senior team from Antony. It is the Mate-Huniber Cup, Budapest, 17–18 October, the European Cadet Circuit, sabre. Digi Sport put “gold after a dramatic final”. The score: 45-44 against Hungary. One touch. Vlad Crică, Alexander Ene, Ștefan Tomac, Matei Zait. The European Fencing Confederation had the tournament on the calendar, 635 participants, individual and team. The four names also sit on the EFC list. The result, in the Romanian report. It is not a senior European championship. It is a cadet circuit, in the opponent’s capital.

The path: Greece 2, 45-20, last 16. Greece 3, 45-23, last 8. Poland, 45-19, quarters. Germany, 45-41, semis. Then the hosts. Digi: a hard match, decided by a touch. That is the drama. It is not the refereeing row from the seniors, in June, when the same Hungary took the continental gold, 45-43. Two finals, two ages, the same opponent. Anyone who mixes them turns cadets into European champions.

Crică and Zait, Tomac, took national club silver with CSM Iași, behind Dinamo. Ene took bronze with Riposta. In Budapest they were one team, Romania. The EFC put them on the same list. The tournament is not the Games. It is circuit points, experience, a 45-44 said at home as gold.

Digi’s headline does not say “cadets” first. The body does. The Mate-Huniber Cup, sabre, men, teams. Hungary, at home. One touch. That is all. The rest, if you want seniors, is in June, it is silver, it is another hall.

The hall is in Budapest, not at a world championship. The cadets beat the hosts by a touch. The seniors, in June, lost it by two. Age sits between them. The same gold does not.

Until an FIE cadet ranking, 45-44 remains. After that, what remains is whether the same four hold the touch at an age where Hungary has already closed a gold.

Image: Marie-Lan Nguyen, Hungary–France, team sabre, 2013 World Championships, CC BY 3.0, Wikimedia Commons. The photograph is of a senior final, not the 2026 Mate-Huniber Cup.

Sources consulted: Romanians beat Hungary: gold medal after a dramatic final — Digi Sport; Cadet Circuit Budapest MATE – HUNIBER CUP Sabre — European Fencing Confederation.