It’s Christmas before its time for Christo Popov. World No. 8, he achieved the feat of winning the World Tour Finals this Sunday, December 21 in Hangzhou (China). A feat since he became the first French player to win in this tournament which brings together the eight best players of the season at the end of the year. The icing on the cake was that he beat world No. 1 Shi Yu Qi in the final (21-19, 21-9), albeit at home.
Christo Popov va passer 6e mondial
To reach the final, Christo Popov had to battle through the first four matches, all won in three sets. Beater of Anders Antonsen (n°3), Kunlavut Vitidsarn (n°2), Jonathan Christie (n°5) and Kodai Naraoka (n°9), the player from Fos-sur-Mer drew on his resources to triumph each time, thanks to fierce combativeness and a stratospheric level of play.
Read also: Badminton. “The World Tour finals, the icing on the cake”: in China, Gicquel and Delrue complete a great year. Qualities still present this Sunday, despite the fatigue accumulated by this intense week of competition. A disciplinary prodigy, Shi Yu Qi found himself without a solution in the face of the Frenchman’s determination. The Chinese was never able to impose his rhythm, because he still seemed hampered by his Achilles tendon injury, but above all because Christo was everywhere. After his feat, he will climb to 6th place in the world rankings, and overtake Alex Lanier, the other bad French prodigy.
