By winning the final of the BWF World Tour Finals this Sunday, a tournament in China which brings together the eight best badminton players of the season, Christo Popov wrote the history of French sport.
The dream week for Christo Popov. The French badminton player won the BWF World Tour Finals this Sunday by winning in the final against world number 1 and reigning Chinese world champion Shi Yu Qi, at home in Hangzhou. This is the first time that a Frenchman has been crowned in this end-of-year tournament bringing together the eight best badminton players of the season.
As in the semi-final on Saturday against the Japanese Kodai Naraoka (21-19, 21-8), the French only needed two sets to win (21-19, 21-9). Eighth in the world before the start of the competition, the 23-year-old will end the year in seventh place.
Five games, five wins
The badista from Fos-sur-Mer was simply flawless this week in China, not losing a single group match before winning the semi-final and the final. The youngest of the Popov brothers came first in his group with three victories in three matches against Anders Antonsen, Kunlavut Vitidsarn and Jonathan Christie.
Crowned world champion in Paris last summer, Shi Yu Qi has also won several major tournaments, such as the China, England and Malaysia Open, all belonging to the Super 1000 category, the highest level of the circuit. But after holding on to win the first round, Popov definitely made his opponent of the day flinch by taking off to win one of the greatest titles of his career, at 23 years old.
Little brother of another promising French badista, Toma Junior Popov, Christo Popov has for several years been considered a great hope in his discipline, just like Alex Lanier, with whom he occupies the top 10 in the world.
This year, Christo Popov had already thrilled the French public by reaching the final of the French Open in October in Cesson-Sévigné, losing in two sets against the Dane Anders Antonsen. This time, the left-hander born in Sofia (Bulgaria) has quite simply made his mark in the history of his sport.
