Ardeleanu took up fencing with coach Alexandru Csipler at local clubs Unio, then Olimpia Satu Mare, before transferring to CSA Steaua București under coach Vasile Chelaru. He won the 1965 junior national championship in sabre, then switched to foil. With Ion Drîmbă, Iuliu Falb, Tănase Mureșanu and Mihai Țiu, he earned Romania's first team world title in fencing at the 1967 World Fencing Championships in Montreal.