What French shuttlers’ wins against Lakshya Sen, Kidambi Srikanth say about the host nation’s Olympic dreams | Badminton News

When Arnaud Merkle, ranked World No.44 in the world, defended everything that Lakshya Sen was throwing at him with imperious impatience, the Frenchman gave a peek into the preps of the emerging shuttle nation from Europe. It was Round 1 of the French Open, and the Indian was a clear favourite. But the spirited local shuttler raised his game, waited for the inevitable smashing errors into the net of the impetuous Indian, and earned a small confidence victory for himself.It wasn’t out-of-this-world badminton that Merkle played, though his hip-length defense was impeccable and ability to wait out a rally, bide his time till the opponent blinks was impressive as he beat Sen in straight-two. France doesn’t boast the hory in the game that Denmark or England do. But as the next Olympic hosts, the French have put forth reasonable challenges across the singles and doubles categories to ensure their badminton-loving spectators have something to look forward to on the circuit in the run-up.
Earlier, Toma Junior Popov defeated Kidambi Srikanth in straight sets to make it 2/2 for the French against the Indians. Like always, Srikanth left the tournament with a teasing glimpse of outlandish brilliance. Running back from a net return, he hit an outrageous no-see backhand straight, and then turned next instant for the next shot to make it a highlight package eternal favourite. But the tall Popov had enough in his arsenal and determination to seal the match, shrugging off the one-off moment of brilliance.
Two Frenchmen made the Syed Modi finals last season. French rookie Alex Lanier won the Canada Open Super 100 in 2022 at age 17, and a World Juniors bronze at 18 this year. And the Popov brothers, Tomi (World No.25) and Chro (World No.29) constantly threaten to cause an upset or two. All the rank outsiders of the badminton world are severely inspired Kevin Cordon’s run to the Tokyo Olympic semifinals, but the French have built up towards getting into reckoning over the last decade, and are expected to surge forward in coming years.
Their grandest success is of course mixed doubles pairing of Thom Gicquel and Delphine Delrue who are poised at World No 8, and playing some exciting badminton. The French also have Lucas Corvee – Ronan Labar (mens doubles No.34) and Margot Lambert – Anne Tran (womens doubles No.26).
The French have never medalled in the sport at the Olympics, but were the chosen nationality for former Chinese All England runner up in women’s singles Pi Hongyan. She didn’t exactly birth a legacy in her adopted nation, but showed them what excellence looked like. France’s much-loved athlete in their third-best racquet sport after tennis and squash, was Jean-Claude Bertrand, who boasts an impressive record of 12 French National Championship wins, 8 in mixed doubles, 2 in men’s doubles and 2 in men’s singles.
Of a closer vintage was the maverick Brice Leverdez. Brice played with the flair of a wild rug winger, dove around the court and was an animated presence at all times, especially in 2017 world championships when he ousted Lee Chong Wei. He’d retire and move to Bali after stop-starting his fashion label startup. The two luckless Indians might’ve inadvertently tangoed for the twin losses against the Frenchmen, but Srikanth is unlikely to forget the 2018 All England when Brice brought him to match point down, before he extricated himself out of proper trouble. It was an unforgettable sight – Gopichand with a furrowed brow, and Brice’s club coach Bertrand Gallet blowing kisses at his ward’s audacious play.
The flamboyance is tempered a tad as this generation of shuttlers get professional and serious about the Olympics. Lanier picked up the racquet at age 2, Brice had started at 12. The Popov brothers moved to France from Bulgaria, following after their paternal uncle and father who are both strict shuttle coaches, and it was badminton that helped them integrate into the French schooling system after they found themselves a little rudderless not knowing the language at ages 6-7 upon arrival. Their growing up years have obsessively revolved around the sport where their uncle represented his former country at the Olympics.
“With these three guys (Popov brothers and Merkle), we just wanted to be better and better and we wanted to improve together,” Lanier told Olympics.com. “When one became stronger, then the others followed and it was natural. They showed me that we can, from France, win the European titles and we can beat the Danish guys. We can beat everyone in the world; that’s not impossible.”
The French system though set the wheels into motion a decade ago to smarten the setup and take badminton beyond something that’s played in rural barns. 2015, the French federation was in talks with a retiring Peter Gade, who coached them a few seasons and put some fundamentals in place.
But last season, the French took a bold call to rope in Spaniard Fernando Rivas, coach of Carolina Marin who created an Olympic champion out of scratch in a non-badminton nation. Divvying his time between Marin and the French assignment, Rivas has brought all his data analytics, his intuitive knowledge of player psychology and geeky technical expertise to the French. He has the support of Englishman Peter Jeffrey who coaches the doubles with the Franco-Bulgarian Michaïl Popov, and together they have brought Gicquel – Delrue to Top Ten.
Relying on European thinking, the French brought in Lithuanian Kestutis Navickas to shepherd the singles, while the overarching physical conditioning is under Spaniard Jaime De La Calle. The French elite centre Insep is extremely hi-tech, dipping generously into sports science, using some of the latest advances in injury rehab.Most Read
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Badminton might come a dant third after tennis and squash – French boasted of the tireless Gregory Gaultier – but the announcement of Paris as hosts ensured the French got down to propping up their programs. In fact AFP reported last March that Dutch swimming coach Jacco Verhaeren, German rowing guru Jurgen Grobler and South Korean archery coach Oh Seon-Tek had all been hired to help France’s medal push on home soil, alongside Rivas.
Gicquel who started playing at age 7 and Delphine Delrue at age 6, were both spotted and steered to the elite program in their juniors, as was Anne Tran.
At the European Games this June, France finished with 5 medals – 2 silver, 3 bronze, while France won silver behind Denmark at the European mixed team event. The two losses for Srikanth and Sen might’ve evoked a lot of derision for the relative rankings of opponents who beat them. The French are nowhere close to being title contenders on the circuit yet, and their games will be felled down on less slacker days Srikanth and Sen. But with Rivas & Co on the job – remember there’s no conflict as the French aren’t in contention in women’s singles – don’t be surprised if Paris sees a blindside surge from the host nation.