Toma Junior Popov

Toma Junior Popov
	Popov at the 2018 Dutch Open
Personal information
Born	(1998-09-29) 29 September 1998 (age 27); Sofia, Bulgaria
Height	1.96 m (6 ft 5 in)
Weight	86 kg (190 lb)
Sport
Country	France
Sport	Badminton
Handedness	Right
Men's singles & doubles
Highest ranking	13 (MS, 2 September 2025); 16 (MD with Christo Popov, 29 July 2025)
Current ranking	16 (MS); 20 (MD with Christo Popov) (9 June 2026)
	BWF profile
Medal record
Men's badminton
Representing France
Thomas Cup
European Games
European Championships
European Mixed Team Championships
European Men's Team Championships
Mediterranean Games
European Junior Championships

French badminton player (born 1998)

Toma Junior Popov (born 29 September 1998) is a French badminton player.^[1]^[2] Partnered with his brother Christo Popov, he won the men's doubles gold at the 2025 European Championships.^[3] He competed at the 2018 Mediterranean Games and claimed the men's singles bronze medal.^[4] The Popov brothers also competed for France at the 2024 Summer Olympics in the men's doubles event.^[5]

In the juniors, Popov won the bronze medal at the 2015 European Junior Championships in the boys' singles event.^[6] Popov made history as the first non-Danish male player to win a European Junior team gold as well as the men's singles and doubles in 2017. He joined Peter Gade, Jim Laugesen, and Thomas Stuer-Lauridsen as the only men to have ever completed the treble.^[7]

Early and personal life

Born in Sofia, Popov came from a badminton family. His father, Thomas, is a former Bulgarian and French national player. His brother, Christo Popov, also plays badminton. He started to play when he was 8 with neighbour and won his school championship at age of 9. Both of them trained at the Fos-sur-Mer club.^[8]

Career

In 2026, Popov and the Frech team captured the gold medal by breaking Denmark's long-standing dominance in the European Men's Team Championships.^[9] He then became a finalist in the Orléans Masters defeating by Alex Lanier in the final.^[10] Popov also made history with the French team, which reached the final of the Thomas Cup for the first time, and won the silver medal after being defeated by China.^[11]

Achievements

European Games

Men's singles

Year	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Ref
2023	Arena Jaskółka, Tarnów, Poland	Viktor Axelsen	17–21, 18–21	Bronze

Men's doubles

Year	Venue	Partner	Opponent	Score	Result	Ref
2023	Arena Jaskółka, Tarnów, Poland	Christo Popov	Ben Lane Sean Vendy	15–21, 14–21	Bronze

European Championships

Men's singles

Year	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Ref
2022	Polideportivo Municipal Gallur, Madrid, Spain	Anders Antonsen	16–21, 21–19, 15–21	Bronze
2024	Saarlandhalle, Saarbrücken, Germany	Anders Antonsen	18–21, 13–21	Silver
2025	Forum, Horsens, Denmark	Alex Lanier	17–21, 18–21	Silver	^[3]
2026	Palacio de los Deportes Carolina Marín, Huelva, Spain	Christo Popov	18–21, 25–27	Bronze

Men's doubles

Year	Venue	Partner	Opponent	Score	Result	Ref
2025	Forum, Horsens, Denmark	Christo Popov	Éloi Adam Léo Rossi	21–12, 18–21, 21–18	Gold	^[3]
2026	Palacio de los Deportes Carolina Marín, Huelva, Spain	Christo Popov	Ben Lane Sean Vendy	15–21, 16–21	Silver	^[12]

Mediterranean Games

Men's singles

Year	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Ref
2018	El Morell Pavilion, Tarragona, Spain	Muhammed Ali Kurt	21–17, 21–16	Bronze	^[4]

European Junior Championships

Boys' singles

Year	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Ref
2015	Regional Sport Centrum Hall, Lubin, Poland	Anders Antonsen	13–21, 9–21	Bronze
2017	Centre Sportif Régional d'Alsace, Mulhouse, France	Arnaud Merklé	21–14, 21–15	Gold	^[7]

Boys' doubles

Year	Venue	Partner	Opponent	Score	Result	Ref
2017	Centre Sportif Régional d'Alsace, Mulhouse, France	Thom Gicquel	Max Flynn Callum Hemming	21–17, 21–13	Gold	^[7]

BWF World Tour (4 titles, 5 runners-up)

The BWF World Tour, which was announced on 19 March 2017 and implemented in 2018,^[13] 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.^[14]

Men's singles

Year	Tournament	Level	Opponent	Score	Result	Ref
2020	SaarLorLux Open	Super 100	Mark Caljouw	22–20, 19–21, 21–14	Winner
2021	Orléans Masters	Super 100	Mads Christophersen	23–21, 21–13	Winner
2021	Spain Masters	Super 300	Chico Aura Dwi Wardoyo	21–15, 21–17
2024	Spain Masters	Super 300	Loh Kean Yew	11–21, 21–15, 20–22	Runner-up
2024	Hylo Open	Super 300	Christo Popov	13–21, 10–21	Runner-up
2026	German Open	Super 300	Christo Popov	16–21, 15–21	Runner-up
2026	Orléans Masters	Super 300	Alex Lanier	11–21, 13–21	Runner-up	^[10]

Men's doubles

Year	Tournament	Level	Partner	Opponent	Score	Result	Ref
2025	German Open	Super 300	Christo Popov	Kim Won-ho Seo Seung-jae	19–21, 17–21	Runner-up

BWF International Challenge/Series (10 titles, 1 runner-up)

Men's singles

Year	Tournament	Opponent	Score	Result
2016	Latvia International	Kasper Lehikoinen	21–14, 21–14	Winner
2018	Hellas International	Ondřej Král	21–7, 21–13	Winner
2018	Latvia International	Léo Rossi	21–10, 21–15	Winner
2018	Spanish International	Lucas Corvée	21–13, 21–17	Winner
2018	Bulgarian Open	Arnaud Merklé	22–20, 21–12	Winner
2018	Czech Open	Victor Svendsen	21–16, 21–11	Winner
2019	Bulgarian Open	Abhinav Manota	21–15, 21–10	Winner
2019	Irish Open	Pablo Abián	21–10, 24–22	Winner

Men's doubles

Year	Tournament	Partner	Opponent	Score	Result
2014	Bulgarian Eurasia Open	Thomas Vallez	Ronan Guéguin Alexandre Hammer	11–10, 11–10, 11–9	Winner
2018	Bulgarian Open	Christo Popov	Chen Yu-jun Lin Bing-wei	17–21, 21–7, 21–17	Winner
2019	Italian International	Christo Popov	Bjarne Geiss Jan Colin Völker	18–21, 16–21	Runner-up

BWF Junior International (9 titles, 4 runners-up)

Boys' singles

Year	Tournament	Opponent	Score	Result
2014	Bulgarian Junior International	Alexandre Hammer	11–10, 4–11, 4–11, 11–6, 11–4	Winner
2015	Bulgarian Junior International	Daniel Nikolov	21–9, 19–21, 13–21	Runner-up
2015	Slovenia Junior International	Wolfgang Gnedt	21–14, 10–21, 23–21	Winner
2016	Hellas Junior International	Nhat Nguyen	21–17, 11–21, 21–14	Winner
2016	Belgian Junior International	Arnaud Merklé	21–15, 21–12	Winner
2016	Danish Junior Cup	Nhat Nguyen	21–16, 19–21, 24–22	Winner

Boys' doubles

Year	Tournament	Partner	Opponent	Score	Result
2014	Bulgarian Junior International	Thomas Vallez	Ronan Gueguin Alexandre Hammer	10–11, 11–10, 9–11, 11–6, 6–11	Runner-up
2015	Hungarian Junior International	Thomas Vallez	Aleksander Jabłoński Paweł Śmiłowski	21–17, 20–22, 21–19	Winner
2015	Slovenia Junior International	Gregor Dunikowski	Emre Cömert Baran Yüksel	21–16, 21–17	Winner
2016	Hellas Junior International	Thomas Baures	Éloi Adam Samy Corvée	21–18, 21–15	Winner
2016	Bulgarian Junior International	Léo Rossi	Pakin Kuna-anuvit Natthapat Trinkajee	13–21, 8–21	Runner-up
2016	Belgian Junior International	Léo Rossi	Zach Russ Steven Stallwood	21–11, 21–15	Winner
2016	Danish Junior Cup	Karl Thor Søndergaard	Rasmus Kjær Jesper Toft	14–21, 21–17, 17–21	Runner-up

BWF Junior International Grand Prix tournament

BWF Junior International Challenge tournament

BWF Junior International Series tournament

BWF Junior Future Series tournament

References

↑ "Players: Toma Junior Popov". Badminton World Federation. Retrieved 16 September 2016.
↑ "Badminton - Toma Junior Popov" (in French). Info Média Conseil. Retrieved 16 September 2016.
1 2 3 "Les frères Popov champions d'Europe en double après une finale française face à Éloi Adam et Léo Rossi" (in French). L'Équipe. 13 April 2025. Retrieved 16 April 2025.
1 2 "POPOV Toma Tomov". Tarragona 2018 Mediterranean Games. Archived from the original on 26 June 2018. Retrieved 26 June 2018.
↑ "POPOV Toma Junior". Paris 2024 Olympics. Archived from the original on 7 October 2024.
↑ "European Junior Championships, Individuals". Badminton Europe. Retrieved 16 September 2016.
1 2 3 Phlean, Mark. "Popov does double and creates history". Badminton Europe. Retrieved 17 April 2017.
↑ "The Popov dynasty". FZ Forza. Retrieved 19 February 2018.
↑ "European Championships: France, Bulgaria upstage Denmark". Badminton World Federation. 16 February 2026. Retrieved 26 March 2025.
1 2 Lhôte, Martin (22 March 2026). "Alex Lanier conserve son titre, Gicquel et Delrue aussi sacrés : les Français régalent à l'Orléans Masters de badminton" (in French). La République du Centre. Retrieved 26 March 2025.
↑ Fioux, David (4 May 2026). "« Rivaliser avec les Chinois, c'est phénoménal » : finaliste de la Thomas Cup, la France fait définitivement partie du grand monde" (in French). L'Équipe. Retrieved 5 May 2026.
↑ "Christo Popov wins European badminton title but misses out in doubles decider with brother". ABC News. 12 April 2026. Retrieved 13 April 2026.
↑ 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.
↑ Sukumar, Dev (10 January 2018). "Action-Packed Season Ahead!". Badminton World Federation. Archived from the original on 13 January 2018. Retrieved 15 January 2018.

External links

Toma Junior Popov at BWFBadminton.com
Toma Junior Popov at BWF.TournamentSoftware.com (archived)
Toma Junior Popov at Olympics.com
Toma Junior Popov at Olympedia
Toma Junior Popov at InterSportStats
Toma Junior Popov at Équipe de France (in French)
Toma Junior Popov on Instagram

[1] "Players: Toma Junior Popov". Badminton World Federation. Retrieved 16 September 2016.

[2] "Badminton - Toma Junior Popov" (in French). Info Média Conseil. Retrieved 16 September 2016.

[ec25-3] 1 2 3 "Les frères Popov champions d'Europe en double après une finale française face à Éloi Adam et Léo Rossi" (in French). L'Équipe. 13 April 2025. Retrieved 16 April 2025.

[medg18-4] 1 2 "POPOV Toma Tomov". Tarragona 2018 Mediterranean Games. Archived from the original on 26 June 2018. Retrieved 26 June 2018.

[Paris_2024-5] "POPOV Toma Junior". Paris 2024 Olympics. Archived from the original on 7 October 2024.

[6] "European Junior Championships, Individuals". Badminton Europe. Retrieved 16 September 2016.

[ejc17-7] 1 2 3 Phlean, Mark. "Popov does double and creates history". Badminton Europe. Retrieved 17 April 2017.

[8] "The Popov dynasty". FZ Forza. Retrieved 19 February 2018.

[etc26-9] "European Championships: France, Bulgaria upstage Denmark". Badminton World Federation. 16 February 2026. Retrieved 26 March 2025.

[orl26-10] 1 2 Lhôte, Martin (22 March 2026). "Alex Lanier conserve son titre, Gicquel et Delrue aussi sacrés : les Français régalent à l'Orléans Masters de badminton" (in French). La République du Centre. Retrieved 26 March 2025.

[tc26-11] Fioux, David (4 May 2026). "« Rivaliser avec les Chinois, c'est phénoménal » : finaliste de la Thomas Cup, la France fait définitivement partie du grand monde" (in French). L'Équipe. Retrieved 5 May 2026.

[ec26md-12] "Christo Popov wins European badminton title but misses out in doubles decider with brother". ABC News. 12 April 2026. Retrieved 13 April 2026.

[13] 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.

[14] 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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