The last Frenchman in the running at the Olympic Games, Toma Junior Popov, stopped just outside the quarter-finals. French badminton is therefore leaving Paris 2024 empty-handed.
The Arena Porte de la Chapelle vibrated like never before. An entire audience won over to the cause of Toma Junior Popov, the last Frenchman in the running at these Paris 2024 Games. But this popular support was not enough. The Frenchman was stopped at the gates of the quarter-finals. A disappointment, of course, for a discipline that leaves Paris empty-handed.
“This should motivate us for the future”
« It’s extremely frustrating for us but it should motivate us for the future by telling ourselves that we are constantly playing in top form because we are playing in almost all the tables against players who are stronger than us in the rankings.”underlines Jérôme Careil, National Technical Director of the French Badminton Federation. « And we are not far from making two quarters with the men’s singles and the mixed doubles. Except that the quarters will be done without us, which is a shame.”
The World Championships in Paris in 2025
At its level, French badminton simply came up against a stronger team in Paris. Will the entire collective be stronger in four years? The DTN wants to believe it. « For 2028, in men’s singles, given the density we have, it’s going to be a great battle. In women’s singles, we need to rebuild the table, we have young people who are promising but who are really young. In mixed, they learned a lot in Paris. They were frustrated in the previous Olympiad. It’s encouraging for 2028 because we can look ahead. We showed that we had the level to take on sporting challenges. In France, we have organizational know-how and we have an audience. Everything is in place so that we can have great World Championships next year right here.. » Because yes, before thinking about Los Angeles, French badminton will be making its return to Paris in 2025.
2024-08-02 13:03:22
#Badminton #encouraging
