French badminton was full of confidence during the European Championships in Saarbrücken (Germany) which ended this Sunday with notably two gold medals in women's doubles and mixed doubles. A first in the history of French badminton. Last deadline in the race for Olympic qualification for Paris 2024, this Euro allowed four Tricolores - Toma Junior Popov, Xuefei Qi, Ronan Labar and Lucas Corvée to obtain the precious sesame at the buzzer. The Anne Tran - Margot Lambert pairs in women's doubles and the Thomas Gicquel - Delphine pair already had their ticket for the Olympics.
“This is a historic result. We took a leap, jubilant DTN (national technical director) Jérôme Careil. We have never had a title and here in Germany we get two. This is the perfect time for momentum. We continue to progress and we show that we are competitive on all fronts. This will be the first time we have qualified in each table. »
On Saturday, Thomas Gicquel and Delphine Delrue won the mixed doubles by defeating the Danish pair Mathias Christiansen and Alexandra Bøje, seeded No. 1 in the tournament. The next day, the pair Margot Lambert - Anne Tran won the gold medal in the women's doubles by winning at the expense of the Bulgarian sisters Gabriela and Stefani Stoeva, three reigning European champions. After his exploit in the semi-final against the world number 1 and reigning Olympic champion, the Dane Viktor Axelsen, Tomas Junior Popov lost in the final against another Dane, Anders Antonsen, but he stole for a handful of points the Olympic ticket to Paris for his little brother Christo who had been ahead of him in the race for several weeks.
The latter, the first French player in history to reach the final four of a Super 1000 (the equivalent of a Grand Slam tournament in tennis) in Birmingham a month ago, will therefore not participate in the Games Olympic singles and doubles. Xuefei Qi in women's singles and the pair Ronan Labar - Lucas Corvée in men's doubles will complete the French contingent at the Paris Olympics. The competition will take place at the Arena de la Porte de la Chapelle from July 27 to August 5.
“An Olympic medal would be an achievement even if we get close,” says Jérôme Careil. Statistics show that it is almost impossible to win a medal when you are not part of the top 8 in the world and no Frenchman will be seeded, so they will not be protected. But, everything is possible in sport. Our best chance is in mixed doubles. Thomas and Delphine have the level to beat anyone and they will be galvanized by the public. »