Badminton: French not very successful, but successful dress rehearsal at the Adidas Arena ahead of the 2024 Olympics in Paris

In less than five months, the best bad guys on the planet will meet at the Adidas Arena from July 27 to August 5 in hopes of winning a gold medal at the Paris Olympics. The French Open (IFB), which ended this Sunday at the new stadium located in Porte de la Chapelle, brought many lessons.

From an organizational point of view, the “Test Events” on March 8 and 9 were decisive, designed to test the configuration of the premises and surrounding areas during the Olympic Games. The public reacted quickly. French federation president Johan Penel said the IFB attracted more than 22,000 spectators over the 6 days of competition (including two sessions on Friday and Saturday).

As for the premises, it was enjoyed by the players, the public, as well as the members of the IOC Coordination Commission who came as visitors earlier in the week, especially since the lighting was considered very satisfactory, an important point for this sport. “They appreciated the configuration, the volume and the fact that we were very close to the fields,” explains Pascal Bildstein, director of the French Open. This is a very important test. »

The Popov brothers are empty-handed

For the French players, the meeting promised to be important in terms of Olympic qualification. Some scored valuable points, while others did not take advantage of the opportunity to take the plunge and win a ticket. Brothers Toma Jr. and Hristo Popov came away empty-handed in both singles and doubles.

The two brothers have been locked in a fratricidal battle for months over the only individual ticket to represent France at the Games. In Paris, Thomas Junior and Christo lost in the first round to the winner of the tournament, respectively, Singaporean Lo and Chinese Shi. Thus, a week after the first WorldTour title of his career in Germany, Christo (22 years old) maintains an advantage over his eldest (25 years old) heading into the last 4 tournaments.

In doubles, the Popov brothers were unable to get rid of the Chinese pair Jiting – Xianggui in the first round and performed poorly in the Olympic wrestling, as their direct competitor, the French pair Lucas Corve – Ronan Labarre, entered the round in 16th place after defeating three-time Indonesian champions peace Ahsan-Setiawan. “I would like to go through at least the 2nd round in individual and doubles,” grumbled Hristo Popov. We had good matches, even though we lost every time, there are a lot of positive things to remember from the matches against strong opponents. »

Women’s decider this week in Orleans

“I remain quite positive since I was absent last week due to back pain,” states Thomas Jr., who caused a small dispute with the French federation due to the absence of his English coach and his uncle Mikhail in his double chair . We need to look to the future and to the next tournaments. It is still possible to qualify. »

While the French women (Xuefei, Leonys Huet and Rosie Pancasari) did not qualify for the tournament and will have to battle it out this week in Orleans to qualify for the Sesame Olympics, women’s doubles Anne Tran-Margaux Lambert has been eliminated from the tournament. first round, but must represent France at the Olympics.

The best results at the tournament were ultimately achieved in mixed doubles. After several months of shortages (injuries and poor results), the pair of Thomas Gicquel-Delphine Delrue reached the quarterfinals of the Paris tournament. “We had two good first matches, it’s nice to play at this level again,” admits Thomas Gicquel. This result gives us confidence as it has been a long time since we reached this round. We will try to do better in Birmingham. »

This high-scoring English tournament starts on Tuesday. The French will then travel to tournaments in Switzerland and Spain before the final decider at the European Championships in April in Saarbrücken, Germany. The verdict of the lucky ones will be known on May 1.