The same year, he earned a silver medal in the Junior World Championships in Poznań, after being defeated by future Olympic champion Áron Szilágyi.

Along with Florin Zalomir, Cosmin Hănceanu, and Rareș Dumitrescu, Romania created a surprise by beating favourite Italy to win the gold medal in the 2009 World Championships in Antalya.

Dolniceanu transferred in 2011 to CS Dinamo București and began training under Mihai Covaliu, who also coaches the national team.

Dolniceanu gave his team a 20-17 lead, but a crash with Nikolay Kovalev awakened a right-ankle sprain sustained during the 2012 European Championships; he also broke a nail on his weapon hand and had to receive medical treatment.

In the European Championships in Zagreb, he defeated 15–11 the three-time incumbent Aleksey Yakimenko of Russia to win the individual gold medal.

An injury sustained in the quarter-final prevented him from taking part in the team event, which Romania finished in the fourth place.

[18] In the 2014–15 season Dolniceanu failed to get past the table of 16 in Budapest, New York and Padova: he was defeated respectively by teammate Teodosiu and two South Koreans.

He was happier in the team competition, striking the decisive hit in the final against Italy in Budapest and winning gold for Romania.