France eyes badminton success at Olympics as long rebuild starts to pay off with titles

French badminton is targeting future Olympic success with Christo Popov’s World Tour Finals victory and a ⁠landmark European team crown marking what officials believe could be a potential turning point for the ⁠sport in the country.

Popov won the biggest title of his career in December while the French men’s team stunned traditional powerhouses Denmark at last week’s continental championships – breakthroughs the French Badminton Federation’s technical director Cyrille Gombrowicz said were decades in the making.

Since badminton’s introduction at the Olympics in 1992, the sport has been dominated by Asian countries, with Denmark the only European nation ‌to feature in the top eight of the overall medal table and France yet to step on the podium.

But Gombrowicz believed they now had a proper launch pad with rising talents including Popov, Alex Lanier and the mixed doubles pair of Thom Gicquel and Delphine Delrue, who captured the nation’s first-ever Super 1000 title in Indonesia last year.

“The next Olympic cycle after the 2028 Los Angeles Games may be the best period for French players,” Gombrowicz said.

“Step by step, our goal is to enter the group of the world’s top eight badminton nations.”