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PLAYER GUIDE · CHRISTO POPOV

Christo Popov Badminton
2026 Results, Match by Match

🌐 日本語で読む

🏸 2026 results📅 What's next

Christo Popov (France, men's singles) is World No. 3 as of 13 October 2026. This page lists every 2026 result we hold, with the score of each match, and every entry links to our tournament page for that event. ⚡Six of the seventeen matches we had recorded up to the China Masters in September were against Japanese opponents, and those six are three wins and three losses (see six of seventeen). His two October matches, at the Arctic Open and the Denmark Open, are listed separately under the next events. At the Denmark Open he is the second seed in men's singles; Yudai Okimoto withdrew from their quarter-final on 16 October without playing, so Popov went through to the semi-finals on 17 October on a walkover. 🏆He won the Japan Open in July, taking all five matches from the first round to the final and beating the top seed Shi Yuqi in the quarter-final (see the five that won the title), beating Kodai Naraoka in the semi-final and Koki Watanabe in the final. 🔻At the 2026 World Championships he went out in the first round on two consecutive days, in the doubles and then the singles (see two first rounds in two days). This is an unofficial summary. We publish only what our sources publish, and we do not write about injuries or private life.

Country
France
Event
Men's singles
Japan Open 2026
Champion
As of 13 Oct 2026
World No. 3
Our record (to September)
17 matches, 10 wins

🏸 2026 results

Every 2026 result we record for Christo Popov, tournament by tournament. Tournament names link to our summary page for that event. ⚠️Our tournament pages follow the Japanese entries, so for players from other countries we list only the matches we actually hold. Where we hold nothing, we say so, and we do not publish results we have not confirmed.

7/14〜19 🥇 Men's singles champion

Japan Open 2026

Super 750・Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium

🏆He won the title, and we now hold all five matches from the first round to the final (see the five that won the title). As the 5th seed he beat Weng Hongyang (CHN) 21-14, 23-21 in 47 minutes on 14 July, Leong Jun Hao (MAS) 16-21, 21-11, 21-17 in 60 minutes on 16 July, and the 1st seed Shi Yuqi (CHN) 14-21, 21-10, 21-11 in 63 minutes in the quarter-final on 17 July — coming from a game down in both the second round and the quarter-final. On 18 July he beat 🇯🇵Kodai Naraoka 21-14, 21-11 in 43 minutes; on 19 July he beat 🇯🇵Koki Watanabe 21-11, 21-19 in 49 minutes. Neither of those took an hour. The Japanese specialist outlet Badminton Spirit called it his first Super 750 title.
🆕Added on 18 September 2026: the first round, the second round and the quarter-final were on none of our pages, and until today this page said we held nothing from the first round through the quarter-finals. The official BWF day data and the draw on English Wikipedia agree on all three.
👬He also played the men's doubles here with Toma Junior Popov: on 15 July they lost the first round 19-21, 13-21 in 35 minutes to the 2nd seeds, Fajar Alfian and Muhammad Shohibul Fikri (INA), who went on to win the men's doubles. 🆕Added on 18 September 2026: that doubles match was on none of our pages either; the same two sources agree on it.

7/21〜26 🏸 Out in both events

China Open 2026

Super 1000・Changzhou, China

🔻He entered both the men's singles and the men's doubles here, and went out of both before the quarter-finals. In the men's singles, as the 5th seed, he beat Lee Cheuk Yiu (HKG) 21-7, 8-21, 21-14 in 52 minutes in the first round on 22 July, then lost the second round on 23 July 18-21, 13-21 in 44 minutes to Lin Chun-yi (TPE). In the men's doubles, partnering Toma Junior Popov, they lost the first round 12-21, 23-25 to 🇯🇵Takuro Hoki and Yugo Kobayashi (JPN, 8th seeds); our tournament page writes that from the winners' side as 21-12, 25-23 and records the second game as a 25-23 fight.
🆕Added on 8 September 2026: that men's singles second round was missing from our China Open page until today. We confirmed it against the official BWF day data and the draw on English Wikipedia. 🆕Added on 18 September 2026: the first-round win over Lee Cheuk Yiu was already on our Lee Cheuk Yiu page but missing from this one; the same two sources agree on it. 🔁He met Lee Cheuk Yiu again in the China Masters semi-final on 5 September and lost that one 15-21, 19-21. Until 18 September this card said he won neither event's opening match, which was wrong. ⚠️The men's singles runner-up at this tournament was the other Popov, Toma Junior.

8/17〜23 🏸 Out in round one in both events

BWF World Championships 2026

World Championships・New Delhi, India

🔻He entered both the men's singles and the men's doubles, and went out in the first round of each on consecutive days. In the men's doubles first round on 17 August, partnering Toma Junior Popov, they lost 13-21, 17-21 in 39 minutes to 🇯🇵Yuichi Shimogami and Takumi Nomura. In the men's singles first round on 18 August he was the 5th seed and lost 17-21, 19-21 in 64 minutes to 🇯🇵Kenta Nishimoto. Our tournament page writes both from the Japanese side, as 21-13, 21-17 and 21-17, 21-19. ⚡When the BWF published its five men's singles title favourites on 14 August, Christo Popov was one of them (see two first rounds in two days).

9/1〜6 🏸 Semi-finalist

China Masters 2026

Super 750・Shenzhen, China

He entered as the 2nd seed and reached the men's singles semi-finals. He beat Panitchaphon TEERARATSAKUL (THA) 9-21, 23-21, 21-16 in 60 minutes in the first round on 2 September, and Julien CARRAGGI (BEL) 21-14, 10-21, 21-6 in 56 minutes in the second round on 3 September. He came from a game down in the first round. His second-round opponent had knocked out 🇯🇵Yudai Okimoto the day before. In the quarter-final on 4 September he beat 🇯🇵Kodai Naraoka (8th seed) 21-10, 21-14 in 39 minutes — the same opponent he had beaten in straight games in the Japan Open semi-final in July. In the semi-final on 5 September he lost 15-21, 19-21 in 54 minutes to Lee Cheuk Yiu (HKG, unseeded). Our tournament page records the 2nd seed going out in two games to an unseeded player.
👬He also played the men's doubles here with Toma Junior Popov: on 2 September they beat LEE Fang-Chih and LEE Fang-Jen (TPE) 21-18, 21-7 in 32 minutes, and on 3 September they lost the second round 17-21, 24-22, 9-21 in 69 minutes to Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty (IND, 4th seeds), who went on to win the title. ⚡That makes six matches in four days, from 2 to 5 September. 🆕Added on 17 September 2026: his first two singles rounds and both doubles matches here were on none of our pages; the official BWF day data and the draw on English Wikipedia agree on all four.

Scores are written from Christo Popov's point of view (Popov's points first). Only matches completed by 8 September 2026 are listed. Matches in progress are not listed.

⚡ Six of seventeen were Japanese

The seventeen matches we recorded for Christo Popov in 2026 up to the China Masters in September are ten wins and seven losses. In six of them his opponent was Japanese — a player or a pair. Taken on their own, those six are three wins and three losses.

A chart of the seventeen Christo Popov results from 2026 that we hold. Japan Open first round on 14 July, as the 5th seed: Weng Hongyang of China 21-14, 23-21 in 47 minutes, won. Japan Open men's doubles first round on 15 July, partnering Toma Junior Popov: Fajar Alfian and Muhammad Shohibul Fikri of Indonesia, the 2nd seeds, 19-21, 13-21 in 35 minutes, lost. Japan Open second round on 16 July: Leong Jun Hao of Malaysia 16-21, 21-11, 21-17 in 60 minutes, won from a game down. Japan Open quarter-final on 17 July: Shi Yuqi of China, the top seed, 14-21, 21-10, 21-11 in 63 minutes, won from a game down. Japan Open semi-final on 18 July: Kodai Naraoka 21-14, 21-11 in 43 minutes, won. Japan Open final on 19 July: Koki Watanabe 21-11, 21-19 in 49 minutes, won, taking the title. China Open men's doubles first round on 22 July, partnering Toma Junior Popov: Takuro Hoki and Yugo Kobayashi of Japan 12-21, 23-25, lost. Same day, China Open men's singles first round, as the fifth seed: Lee Cheuk Yiu of Hong Kong 21-7, 8-21, 21-14 in 52 minutes, won. China Open men's singles second round on 23 July, as the fifth seed: Lin Chun-yi 18-21, 13-21 in 44 minutes, lost. World Championships men's doubles first round on 17 August: Yuichi Shimogami and Takumi Nomura 13-21, 17-21 in 39 minutes, lost. World Championships men's singles first round on 18 August, as the fifth seed: Kenta Nishimoto 17-21, 19-21 in 64 minutes, lost. China Masters men's singles first round on 2 September: Panitchaphon TEERARATSAKUL of Thailand 9-21, 23-21, 21-16 in 60 minutes, won. Same day, men's doubles first round: LEE Fang-Chih and LEE Fang-Jen of Chinese Taipei 21-18, 21-7 in 32 minutes, won. Men's singles second round on 3 September: Julien CARRAGGI of Belgium 21-14, 10-21, 21-6 in 56 minutes, won. Same day, men's doubles second round: Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty of India, the 4th seeds, 17-21, 24-22, 9-21 in 69 minutes, lost. China Masters quarter-final on 4 September: Kodai Naraoka 21-10, 21-14 in 39 minutes, won. China Masters semi-final on 5 September: Lee Cheuk Yiu 15-21, 19-21 in 54 minutes, lost. Ten wins and seven losses overall: three wins and three losses against Japanese opponents, and seven wins and four losses against everyone else. The chart is labelled in Japanese.
Scores are written from Popov's point of view. The chart is labelled in Japanese. It covers the seventeen matches up to the China Masters in September; the two October matches at the Arctic Open and the Denmark Open are not in it.

Every result above comes from our own pages, and we do not explain why any of it happened. ⚠️Our tournament pages follow the Japanese entries, so the weight of Japanese opponents here is a property of our records, not of his season — and these seventeen are not his whole 2026. 🆕Five matches were added on 18 September 2026 — his Japan Open first round, second round and quarter-final, his Japan Open men's doubles first round and his China Open men's singles first round — and four China Masters matches on 17 September 2026 (his first two singles rounds and both doubles matches). Only the China Open first round was already on one of our pages, the one for Lee Cheuk Yiu; the official BWF day data and the draw on English Wikipedia agree on every one of them.

🔻 Two first rounds, two days

At the 2026 BWF World Championships in New Delhi in August, Christo Popov entered two events and lost in the first round of each on consecutive days. Both opponents were Japanese.

📋Before the tournament the BWF published five men's singles title favourites on its own site. Our World Championships 2026 page records all five, and Christo Popov is one of them; the BWF wrote that he could make history for France, citing his 2025 World Tour Finals title and a Thomas Cup silver. ⚡In our records, those two days are the whole of his tournament.

We do not rank players against each other. Everything above is the score and the date as recorded on our own World Championships 2026 page.

🥇 The five that won the title

Christo Popov won the Daihatsu Japan Open (Super 750, Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium) in July 2026 from the 5th seeding. We hold the score of all five matches, from the first round to the final.

⏱The five took 262 minutes in total, the quarter-final the longest at 63 and the semi-final the shortest at 43. 🔁Only the second round and the quarter-final went to three games, and he lost the opening game in both. Two of the five were against Japanese players — the semi-final and the final — and both were straight games.

🆕Added on 18 September 2026: the first round, the second round and the quarter-final were on none of our pages, and until that day this page said we held nothing from the first round through the quarter-finals. All three agree between the official BWF day data (14, 16 and 17 July 2026) and the draw on English Wikipedia. ⚠️Our own Japan Open 2026 page still does not carry these three, because our tournament pages select the Japanese entries and the seeds who fell.

🏆 Career highlights

📅 What's next

📅The most recent matches on our tournament pages are from the Denmark Open 2026, which is under way (just below). The seventeen matches on this page run up to the China Masters 2026, which ended on 6 September, where he reached the semi-finals.

🏸At the Arctic Open 2026 (Super 500, Vantaa, Finland, 6 to 11 October) he was the second seed in men's singles and beat Jason Gunawan (HKG) 21-12, 18-21, 21-8 in the first round on 7 October. We have not recorded his later matches there (the men's singles title went to the fourth seed, Anders Antonsen of Denmark). The seeding list and the draw had been settled on Tuesday 29 September, as the Key Dates in the official BWF prospectus say. At the Denmark Open 2026 (Super 750, Odense, 13 to 18 October) he and Toma Junior Popov lost the men's doubles first round on 13 October to Kakeru Kumagai / Hiroki Nishi 14-21, 18-21. In men's singles he is the second seed and through to the quarter-finals; we have not recorded his first- and second-round results there. His quarter-final on 16 October against 🇯🇵Yudai Okimoto was a walkover — Okimoto withdrew without playing — and he is through to the semi-finals on 17 October (no reason has been announced; we have not recorded his semi-final opponent or time). ⚠️These two matches are not in the seventeen-match count above (scores from Christo Popov's side).

A figure showing when the Arctic Open 2026 draw was settled and three of its seeds. The seeding list and draw were settled on Tuesday 29 September by BWF, and on Wednesday 30 September the tournament website posted DRAW IS NOW PUBLISHED. Christo Popov (France) is the second seed in men's singles, Anders Antonsen (Denmark) the fourth, and Feng Yanzhe / Huang Dongping (China) the first seed in mixed doubles.
The figure shows the seeding as settled before the event. Only the seeds we could confirm in the official BWF prospectus, the tournament website and our own Arctic Open 2026 page.

Next in the European autumn swing is the French Open 2026 from 20 to 25 October near Paris (Super 750) — the French Open being a home tournament for a French player. The season closes with the BWF World Tour Finals 2026 in December, which our records say he won in 2025.

⚠️ The French Open 2026 draw came out on 15 October, but our tournament page lists only the Japanese entries' first-round matches, so we have not recorded his place in the draw. No entry list has been published for the events after it, and we do not guess at names. Linked pages are in Japanese unless marked EN.

👤 Profile

NameChristo Popov (クリスト・ポポフ)
EventMen's singles
CountryFrance
Born8 March 2002
FromSofia, Bulgaria
Height179cm
PlaysLeft-handed
World rankingWorld No. 3 as of 13 October 2026
86,632 points from 19 counted events. On 15 September 2026 he was also No. 3 with the same points. World rankings are updated every week, so this is a dated record, not a current figure. Check the BWF website for the latest list.

His date of birth, birthplace, height and playing hand are shown because the official BWF player profile and English Wikipedia agree on all four (checked on 15 September 2026). He represents France and was born in Sofia, Bulgaria.

Source — Badminton Spirit world ranking list, men's singles (dated 8 September 2026) and BWF official player profile (Christo POPOV) and English Wikipedia, Christo Popov (date of birth, birthplace, height, playing hand) and Badminton Spirit report on the Japan Open 2026 final (20 July 2026) (in Japanese). This profile only uses what the sources above publish. We do not write about injuries, health or private life.

🔍 Keep your own scoresheet

"Ten wins and seven losses" says nothing about who the opponents were. In our records up to the China Masters in September, six of the seventeen were Japanese, and taken alone those six are three wins and three losses. That is a property of our tournament pages, which follow the Japanese entries — not a description of his season.

🔴So a page about a player from another country has more gaps than one about a Japanese player. Among the seventeen up to September we hold not a single match played in Europe (the Japan Open rounds before the semi-final, his Japan Open doubles match and his China Open first round were added on 18 September 2026). In October the Arctic Open in Finland and the Denmark Open gave us only the two matches that made our tournament pages. Where we hold nothing, we say so.

🇯🇵Read alongside a Japanese player's page and the same match looks different. On Kenta Nishimoto's page, 18 August is the line his page calls his biggest win of 2026. On Kodai Naraoka's page, 18 July and 4 September are the two times the same opponent stopped him. On this page those three are the wins.

Badsheet records your own matches point by point, builds an official-style scoresheet and charts win rate and shot placement.

Badsheet (BADOSHEET) app banner: take your badminton further. Every match becomes a footprint of your growth. Record, review, get stronger. Match records with an automatic scoresheet, growth charts, a practice log, and sharing with family and coaches. Download on the App Store or get it on Google Play.
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🔗 Related pages

The pages below are written in Japanese, except the ones marked EN.

❓ Frequently asked questions

Who is Christo Popov and where is he from?

He is a badminton player from France. Our tournament pages record him as Christo Popov of France at the 2026 Japan Open, China Open, World Championships and China Masters, and the Badminton Spirit men's singles world ranking list dated 8 September 2026 also gives France for the player in second place. He was born on 8 March 2002 in Sofia, Bulgaria, which makes him 24 on 15 September 2026, is 179cm tall and plays left-handed; the official BWF player profile and English Wikipedia agree on all four.

What is Christo Popov's world ranking?

World No. 3 in men's singles as of 13 October 2026, with 86,632 points from 19 counted events. On 15 September 2026 he was also No. 3 with the same points. The official BWF ranking (Week 42) and the specialist outlet Badminton Spirit's list dated 13 October agree on the place, the points and the number of counted events. World rankings are updated every week, so please read this as a dated record and check the BWF website for the latest list.

What are Christo Popov's 2026 results?

In the events we cover with a tournament page: he won the men's singles and lost the men's doubles first round at the Japan Open 2026 (Super 750, Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium) in July, went out in the men's singles second round and the men's doubles first round at the China Open 2026 (Super 1000, Changzhou) in July, went out in the first round of both the men's singles and the men's doubles at the 2026 BWF World Championships in New Delhi in August, and reached the men's singles semi-finals at the China Masters 2026 (Super 750, Shenzhen) in September as the 2nd seed, losing in the men's doubles second round there. Up to the China Masters we hold seventeen results in total, ten wins and seven losses. After that, in October, he beat Jason Gunawan (HKG) 21-12, 18-21, 21-8 in the men's singles first round of the Arctic Open 2026, and lost the men's doubles first round of the Denmark Open 2026 with Toma Junior Popov to Kakeru Kumagai / Hiroki Nishi 14-21, 18-21 (these two are not in the seventeen). Our tournament pages follow the Japanese entries, so these seventeen are not his whole season.

How has Christo Popov done against Japanese players?

We do not rank players against each other. Up to the China Masters in September our tournament pages hold six meetings with Japanese opponents in 2026, three won and three lost. He won the Japan Open semi-final against Kodai Naraoka (21-14, 21-11), the Japan Open final against Koki Watanabe (21-11, 21-19) and the China Masters quarter-final against Kodai Naraoka again (21-10, 21-14). He lost the China Open men's doubles first round to Takuro Hoki and Yugo Kobayashi (12-21, 23-25), the World Championships men's doubles first round to Yuichi Shimogami and Takumi Nomura (13-21, 17-21) and the World Championships men's singles first round to Kenta Nishimoto (17-21, 19-21). After that, on 13 October 2026, he and Toma Junior Popov lost the Denmark Open men's doubles first round to Kakeru Kumagai / Hiroki Nishi 14-21, 18-21 (not in the six above). What we hold is only the matches on our own tournament pages, not a career head-to-head.

Did Christo Popov win the Japan Open 2026?

Yes. He beat Koki Watanabe (JPN) 21-11, 21-19 in 49 minutes in the final on 19 July 2026, having beaten Kodai Naraoka (JPN) 21-14, 21-11 in 43 minutes in the semi-final the day before. He won all five of his matches at the tournament, and in the quarter-final he beat the top seed Shi Yuqi (CHN) 14-21, 21-10, 21-11 in 63 minutes after losing the opening game. Badminton Spirit's report on the final calls it his first Super 750 title, which matches the record on our own Japan Open 2026 page.

How did Christo Popov win the Japan Open 2026?

As the 5th seed he won all five matches, from the first round to the final. He beat Weng Hongyang (CHN) 21-14, 23-21 in 47 minutes on 14 July, Leong Jun Hao (MAS) 16-21, 21-11, 21-17 in 60 minutes on 16 July, the top seed Shi Yuqi (CHN) 14-21, 21-10, 21-11 in 63 minutes in the quarter-final on 17 July, Kodai Naraoka (JPN) 21-14, 21-11 in 43 minutes in the semi-final on 18 July and Koki Watanabe (JPN) 21-11, 21-19 in 49 minutes in the final on 19 July. The five took 262 minutes in total; only the second round and the quarter-final went to three games, and he lost the opening game in both. The first round, the second round and the quarter-final were added on 18 September 2026 — until then they were on none of our pages, and this page said we held nothing from the first round through the quarter-finals. The official BWF day data and the draw on English Wikipedia agree on all three.

How did Christo Popov do at the China Open 2026?

He entered the men's singles and the men's doubles and went out of both before the quarter-finals. In the singles, as the 5th seed, he beat Lee Cheuk Yiu (HKG) 21-7, 8-21, 21-14 in 52 minutes in the first round on 22 July 2026, then lost the second round on 23 July 18-21, 13-21 in 44 minutes to Lin Chun-yi (TPE). In the doubles he and Toma Junior Popov lost the first round on 22 July 12-21, 23-25 to Takuro Hoki and Yugo Kobayashi (JPN, 8th seeds). The first-round win over Lee Cheuk Yiu was added on 18 September 2026; until then it was only on our Lee Cheuk Yiu page. The two met again in the China Masters semi-final on 5 September, which Popov lost 15-21, 19-21. We checked it against the official BWF day data and the draw on English Wikipedia.

How far did Christo Popov go at the 2026 World Championships?

Out in the first round — and in both of his events, on consecutive days. On 17 August he and Toma Junior Popov lost the men's doubles first round 13-21, 17-21 in 39 minutes to Yuichi Shimogami and Takumi Nomura (JPN); on 18 August, as the 5th seed, he lost the men's singles first round 17-21, 19-21 in 64 minutes to Kenta Nishimoto (JPN). In our records only three of the 31 seeds in action on day two lost, and this was one of them.

Are there two players called Popov?

Two appear on our 2026 tournament pages. This page is about Christo Popov; the other is Toma Junior Popov, who was the men's singles runner-up at the China Open 2026 (Super 1000), losing the final to Chou Tien-chen (TPE) — our tournament page records that as the first Super 1000 singles final reached by a French player. The two also play men's doubles together, and our tournament pages call them the Popov brothers. We do not write about a family relationship or an age order beyond what our sources publish.

What has Christo Popov won?

The titles we could confirm with two sources are the 2026 Daihatsu Japan Open (Super 750), the 2025 BWF World Tour Finals, the 2026 European Championships men's singles, the men's doubles silver at the same 2026 European Championships with Toma Junior Popov, and a Thomas Cup silver with France in 2026. Each is checked against the BWF preview quoted on our own 2026 World Championships page, the medal table on English Wikipedia, and our own tournament pages.

Which tournament is Christo Popov playing next?

In our records, he played the Arctic Open 2026 (Super 500, Vantaa, Finland, 6 to 11 October) as the second seed in men's singles and beat Jason Gunawan (HKG) 21-12, 18-21, 21-8 in the first round on 7 October; we have not recorded his later matches there. At the Denmark Open 2026 (13 to 18 October) he and Toma Junior Popov lost the men's doubles first round on 13 October to Kakeru Kumagai / Hiroki Nishi 14-21, 18-21. In men's singles he is the second seed and through to the quarter-finals (we have not recorded his first two rounds there); Yudai Okimoto of Japan withdrew from their quarter-final on 16 October without playing, so he went through to the semi-finals on 17 October on a walkover. For the French Open 2026 from 20 to 25 October that follows, the draw came out on 15 October, but our tournament page lists only the Japanese entries' first-round matches, so we have not recorded his place in the draw.

What if something on this page is wrong?

Corrections and removal requests go through our support page, and we give priority to messages from the player himself or from his federation. This is an unofficial summary. We publish only what our sources publish, we leave out what we cannot confirm twice, and every ranking on the page carries the date it was taken from. Before we publish a player page we re-read the whole site under that player's name, to check the site does not contradict itself.

📮 Corrections and removal. This is an unofficial summary built from published information. If anything here is factually wrong, or if the player or their team would like this page taken down, please contact us and we will correct or remove it promptly. We do not publish anything about injuries, health or private life.

Last updated . Sources — Badminton Spirit world ranking list, men's singles (dated 8 September 2026), BWF official player profile (Christo POPOV), English Wikipedia, Christo Popov (date of birth, birthplace, height, playing hand), Badminton Spirit report on the Japan Open 2026 final (20 July 2026), match results recorded on our own tournament pages (each confirmed against two sources), and the BWF World Ranking as of 13 October 2026. Japanese version: https://takeorilab.ybcjr.com/senshu/christo-popov/