Christo Popov

Last updated
Christo Popov
Personal information
CountryFrance
Born (2002-03-08) 8 March 2002 (age 22)
Sofia, Bulgaria
Residence Fos-sur-Mer, France
Height1.79 m (5 ft 10 in)
HandednessLeft
Men's singles & doubles
Highest ranking20 (MS, 2 April 2024)
20 (MD with Toma Junior Popov, 11 October 2022)
Current ranking26 (MS)
39 (MD with Toma Junior Popov) (16 July 2024)
Medal record
Men's badminton
Representing Flag of France.svg  France
European Games
Silver medal icon (S initial).svg 2023 Kraków–Małopolska Men's singles
Bronze medal icon (B initial).svg 2023 Kraków–Małopolska Men's doubles
European Men's Team Championships
Silver medal icon (S initial).svg 2024 Łódź Men's team
Bronze medal icon (B initial).svg 2020 Liévin Men's team
European Mixed Team Championships
Silver medal icon (S initial).svg 2021 Vantaa Mixed team
Silver medal icon (S initial).svg 2023 Aire-sur-la-Lys Mixed team
World Junior Championships
Silver medal icon (S initial).svg 2019 Kazan Boys' singles
European Junior Championships
Gold medal icon (G initial).svg 2017 Mulhouse Mixed team
Gold medal icon (G initial).svg 2018 Tallinn Mixed team
Gold medal icon (G initial).svg 2020 Lahti Boys' singles
Silver medal icon (S initial).svg 2018 Tallinn Boys' singles
Silver medal icon (S initial).svg 2020 Lahti Mixed team
Bronze medal icon (B initial).svg 2020 Lahti Mixed doubles
BWF profile

Christo Popov (born 8 March 2002) is a French badminton player who affiliate with Fos club. He was the boys' doubles European U15 and U17 Junior Champions, also won the boys' singles silver medals at the 2018 European and 2019 World Junior Championships. [1] He reached a career high as boys' singles World Junior number 1 in January 2020. [2] He then clinched the boys' singles title at the 2020 European Junior Championships. In 2024, he became the first Frenchman to reach the semi-finals of the All England Open.

Contents

Early life

Christo Popov was born in Sofia, Bulgaria. He comes from a family featuring other professional badminton players. His father, Thomas, played for and coached the Bulgarian national team; his mother, Tzvetomira, was a national badminton referee; and his older brother, Toma Junior Popov, was a 2017 European Junior Champion. [1]

Career

Christo Popov started playing badminton at the age of 5. [3] He won the European U15 and U17 Junior Champions in the boys' doubles event with Kenji Lovang in 2016 and 2017 respectively, also finished as boys' singles U15 runner-up in 2016. [4] [5] He later won the boys' singles silver medals at the 2018 European and 2019 World Junior Championships. [6] He managed to win the 2017 Italian Junior International, Danish Junior Cup, also 2018 and 2019 Hungarian Junior International. [1]

At the age of 16, he already won the senior international tournament at the 2018 Bulgarian Open in the men's doubles event with his brother Toma Junior Popov. [7] Christo Popov topped the boys' singles World Junior Ranking on 7 January 2020. [8] He won the men's singles in the 2020 French national championships and in doing so became the youngest ever winner of the competition [9] At the 2020 European Men's and Women's Team Badminton Championships he won the bronze medal with the French national team. In March 2020, he claimed his first BWF Junior International Grand Prix title by winning the Dutch Junior tournament. [10] At the 2020 European Junior Championships in Lahti, Finland, Popov claimed three medals, winning a gold in the boys' singles, a silver in the team, and a bronze in the mixed doubles events. [11]

In 2021, Popov opened the season by participating at the European Mixed Team Championships together with the French national team. The team finished as the finalist and won the silver medal. [12] In May, he received the BEC Young Player of the Year and European Fan Player of the Yeat by the Badminton Europe. [13] At the 2021 Spain Masters, he finished as a men's doubles semi-finalist, losing to the eventual winner, Indonesia's Pramudya Kusumawardana and Yeremia Rambitan. [14]

In 2024, Christo won two Super 300 Titles, both achieved in Germany which are the German Open and the Hylo open. In the German Open, he defeated Danish Rasmus Gemke in two straight sets. Later in November, he defeated his own older brother Toma Junior Popov in the Hylo Open finals.

Achievements

European Games

Men's singles

YearVenueOpponentScoreResult
2023 Arena Jaskółka, Tarnów, Poland Flag of Denmark.svg Viktor Axelsen 21–16, 16–21, 11–21 Med 2.png Silver

Men's doubles

YearVenuePartnerOpponentScoreResult
2023 Arena Jaskółka,
Tarnów, Poland		 Flag of France.svg Toma Junior Popov Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Ben Lane
Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Sean Vendy 		15–21, 14–21 Med 3.png Bronze

BWF World Junior Championships

Boys' singles

YearVenueOpponentScoreResult
2019 Kazan Gymnastics Center, Kazan, Russia Flag of Thailand.svg Kunlavut Vitidsarn 8–21, 11–21 Med 2.png Silver

European Junior Championships

Boys' singles

YearVenueOpponentScoreResult
2018 Kalev Sports Hall, Tallinn, Estonia Flag of France (lighter variant).svg Arnaud Merklé 7–21, 14–21 Med 2.png Silver
2020 Pajulahti Sports Institute, Lahti, Finland Flag of France.svg Yanis Gaudin 21–9, 21–18 Med 1.png Gold

Mixed doubles

YearVenuePartnerOpponentScoreResult
2020 Pajulahti Sports Institute,
Lahti, Finland		 Flag of France.svg Flavie Vallet Flag of Sweden.svg Gustav Bjorkler
Flag of Sweden.svg Edith Urell 		18–21, 21–13, 15–21 Med 3.png Bronze

BWF World Tour (2 titles)

The BWF World Tour, which was announced on 19 March 2017 and implemented in 2018, [15] is a series of elite badminton tournaments sanctioned by the Badminton World Federation (BWF). The BWF World Tour is divided into levels of World Tour Finals, Super 1000, Super 750, Super 500, Super 300 (part of the BWF World Tour), and the BWF Tour Super 100. [16]

Men's singles

YearTournamentLevelOpponentScoreResult
2024 German Open Super 300 Flag of Denmark.svg Rasmus Gemke 21–17, 21–16Gold medal icon.svgWinner
2024 Hylo Open Super 300 Flag of France.svg Toma Junior Popov 21–13, 21–10Gold medal icon.svgWinner

BWF International Challenge/Series (4 titles, 2 runners-up)

Men's singles

YearTournamentOpponentScoreResult
2019 Italian International Flag of India.svg Subhankar Dey 21–16, 22–20Gold medal icon.svgWinner
2022 Ukraine Open Flag of Malaysia.svg Ong Ken Yon 21–14, 22–20Gold medal icon.svgWinner
2022 Nantes International Flag of Denmark.svg Mads Christophersen 8–21, 21–11, 14–21Silver medal icon.svgRunner-up
2022 Dutch Open Flag of Denmark.svg Mads Christophersen25–23, 21–10Gold medal icon.svgWinner

Men's doubles

YearTournamentPartnerOpponentScoreResult
2018 Bulgarian Open Flag of France (lighter variant).svg Toma Junior Popov Flag of Chinese Taipei for Olympic games.svg Chen Yu-jun
Flag of Chinese Taipei for Olympic games.svg Lin Bing-wei 		17–21, 21–7, 21–17Gold medal icon.svgWinner
2019 Italian International Flag of France (lighter variant).svg Toma Junior Popov Flag of Germany.svg Bjarne Geiss
Flag of Germany.svg Jan Colin Völker 		18–21, 16–21Silver medal icon.svgRunner-up
  BWF International Challenge tournament
  BWF International Series tournament
  BWF Future Series tournament

BWF Junior International (5 titles, 4 runners-up)

Boys' singles

YearTournamentOpponentScoreResult
2017Hungarian Junior International Flag of the Czech Republic.svg Ondřej Král 10–12, 11–6, 11–4, 11–13, 10–12Silver medal icon.svgRunner-up
2017Italian Junior International Flag of Belgium (civil).svg Julien Carraggi 21–15, 21–11Gold medal icon.svgWinner
2017Romanian Junior International Flag of France (lighter variant).svg Arnaud Merklé 14–21, 10–21Silver medal icon.svgRunner-up
2017Danish Junior Cup Flag of Denmark.svg Karl Thor Søndergaard 21–16, 21–13Gold medal icon.svgWinner
2018Hungarian Junior International Flag of France (lighter variant).svg Arnaud Merklé21–18, 10–21, 21–7Gold medal icon.svgWinner
2018Spanish Junior International Flag of France (lighter variant).svg Arnaud Merklé21–16, 9–21, 13–21Silver medal icon.svgRunner-up
2019Hungarian Junior International Flag of Denmark.svg Axel Henrik Parkhøi 21–9, 18–21, 21–10Gold medal icon.svgWinner
2019Jakarta Junior International Flag of Indonesia.svg Syabda Perkasa Belawa 14–21, 17–21Silver medal icon.svgRunner-up
2020Dutch Junior International Flag of South Korea.svg Jin Yong 21–14, 21–10Gold medal icon.svgWinner
  BWF Junior International Grand Prix tournament
  BWF Junior International Challenge tournament
  BWF Junior International Series tournament
  BWF Junior Future Series tournament

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References

  1. 1 2 3 "Badminton Europe Magazine: Christo Popov". Badminton Europe. Retrieved 4 May 2020.
  2. ↑ "Christo Popov numéro 1 mondial" (in French). Fédération Française de Badminton. 8 January 2020. Retrieved 4 May 2020.
  3. ↑ "Christo Popov" (in French). Team Popov. Retrieved 4 May 2020.
  4. ↑ Phelan, Mark (1 March 2016). "Broad dispersal of medals in Kazan". Badminton Europe. Retrieved 4 May 2020.
  5. ↑ "Badminton-Europe : Christo Popov en or en double, à Prague" (in French). La Provence. 29 November 2017. Retrieved 4 May 2020.
  6. ↑ Raftery, Alan (25 November 2019). "Christo Popov: the hard work begins now". Badminton Europe. Retrieved 4 May 2020.
  7. ↑ Lollike, Emma (17 August 2018). "Siblings succeed in Sofia". Badminton Europe. Retrieved 4 May 2020.
  8. ↑ "Badminton : Christo Popov, l'as du volant". Le Parisien (in French). 1 February 2020. Retrieved 4 May 2020.
  9. ↑ Sachetat, Raphaël (2 February 2020). "French Nationals – Popov enters history again". Badzine. Retrieved 11 April 2020.
  10. ↑ Castela, Benoit (1 March 2020). "Dutch Junior 2020 : Christo Popov, numéro un mondial qui assume !" (in French). Badmania. Retrieved 11 April 2020.
  11. ↑ Jiwani, Rory (8 November 2020). "Things we learnt as Popov and Shapovalova take European junior singles crowns". Olympic Channel. Retrieved 24 March 2021.
  12. ↑ "EMTC 21 : Les Bleus, vice-champions d'Europe" (in French). Fédération Française de Badminton. 20 February 2021. Archived from the original on 4 March 2021. Retrieved 27 May 2021.
  13. ↑ "Christo Popov récompensé par Badminton Europe" (in French). Fédération Française de Badminton. 4 May 2021. Archived from the original on 27 May 2021. Retrieved 27 May 2021.
  14. ↑ Raftery, Alan (22 May 2021). "Will it be 11 out of 11 for Popov?". Badminton Europe. Archived from the original on 22 May 2021. Retrieved 27 May 2021.
  15. ↑ Alleyne, Gayle (19 March 2017). "BWF Launches New Events Structure". Badminton World Federation. Archived from the original on 1 December 2017. Retrieved 29 November 2017.
  16. ↑ Sukumar, Dev (10 January 2018). "Action-Packed Season Ahead!". Badminton World Federation. Archived from the original on 13 January 2018. Retrieved 15 January 2018.
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