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

In the juniors, Popov won the bronze medal at the 2015 European Junior Championships in the boys' singles event. 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.

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.

Career In 2026, Popov and the French team captured the gold medal by breaking Denmark's long-standing dominance in the European Men's Team Championships. He then became a finalist in the Orléans Masters defeating by Alex Lanier in the final. 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.

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 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 2026 Palacio de los Deportes Carolina Marín, Huelva, Spain Christo Popov Ben Lane Sean Vendy 15–21, 16–21 Silver

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

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

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

BWF World Tour (4 titles, 6 runners-up) The BWF World Tour, which was announced on 19 March 2017 and implemented in 2018, 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.

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 Winner 2022 Orléans Masters Super 100 Mithun Manjunath 21–11, 21–19 Winner 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 2026 China Open Super 1000 Chou Tien-chen 15–21, 21–7, 13–21 Runner-up

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 Ref 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 Ref 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 Ref 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 Ref 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

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