Let us tell each other from now on. A little guy from Fos-sur-mer is capable of imposing his law on the best badminton players in the world. Christo Popov’s recital in these World Tour Finals took a new turn with this success in the semi-final against the Japanese Kodai Naraoka (21-19, 21-8). Without doubt already the greatest feat in the history of the bad tricolor.
Already author of exceptional performances in the group stage with victories at the expense of Antonsen (N.3 in the world), Vitidsarn (N.2) and Christie (N.5) in three days, the brilliant left-hander from Douche (N.8 at the BWF) confirmed this Saturday morning in France all his potential by inviting himself to the WTF final.
A nice check is promised like 12,000 points already assured in the world ranking which could push him up to around 5th place at the start of next week. Crazy, crazy…”I knew I had it in me“, confided Christo Popov a few days before leaving for China.
He demonstrated it on the field this Saturday morning in a meeting in a radically different scenario between the two rounds. The first was stressful between two patient players on the court.
The exchanges could last for a long time but, in this little game, it was the Provençal who had the last word. After a somewhat complicated start (4-8), he got back in the saddle (11-9) to accelerate in the money-time despite two points behind (16-18).
A second one-way round
This time, the two men were no longer going to fight blow for blow. Christo Popov dominated and even took advantage of two generous strips of net to establish his supremacy and drive home the point (21-19). A scenario which completely destabilized the Japanese.
This time, unlike the group matches, Christo Popov hit the nail on the head, starting the second round in an ideal manner. Seven points in a row (7-0) and a royal road to invite themselves into a historic final of the World Tour Finals (12-3). His prey was nailed, Christo then showed himself to be “killer” to string together the points (18-5) and invite himself for a historic final (21-8). The Popov clan can congratulate themselves, it is a huge coup achieved on the world stage by Christo Popov who will play a historic final this Sunday.
