New Delhi: France has been the talk of the badminton world since last year, when three of its players—Alex Lanier, Christo Popov, and Toma Popov Junior — announced their arrival on the big stage and advanced to the third round of the BWF World Championships in Paris. Denmark has been traditional powerhouse of the sport in Europe, but a gust of fresh wind was blowing. At the BWF Worlds here, that gust of wind has turned into a raging storm sweeping through the sport.
They eventually lost to China, but for a team that had never previously reached the quarter-finals, it was as big an achievement as it gets. That was evident at the Thomas Cup, the prestigious world team championships, where France stunned teams such as Indonesia, Japan and India to reach the final. It came on the back of France’s victory at the European Men’s Team Championships, where they beat Denmark.
In both matches, Lanier was a game down but showed tremendous temperament and fighting spirit to turn the tables. His physical capabilities were particularly striking, especially after two draining, high-pressure matches on the biggest stage. “I don’t feel that emotional at the moment. I think I’m a little bit too tired, but I’m also proud of the way I managed that match (semi-final). “We haven’t done the tournament yet, so definitely I don’t want to think about the historical aspect. Lanier’s physical preparation in the build-up helped him pull off such long matches. Towards the home stretch, Lanier’s superior physical conditioning saw him through, even as the draining match began to take a toll on Victor. We prepared to be ready, and we knew that it’s going to be very physical, a World Championship. “And it has been definitely physically demanding. And then we just went, we just polished a little bit of my game.
All through the week, the 21-year-old world No.10 Lanier has played like he is on a mission, taking out former world champion Kunlavut Vitidsarn in the quarter-finals. Against Kunlavut, who has reached the last three finals, he was on court for an hour and 18 minutes. Against Victor, it was an hour and 25 minutes of a gruelling contest.
I just enjoy being on court and playing my best, so that’s my main priority at the moment.
Also, mentally, I’m not really thinking how big it is,” Lanier said. We went to Denmark to get the intensity, to get some very good practice,” said Lanier.
“We prepared well, especially physically, before the Japan Open.
Sitting behind Lanier during the match was Kęstutis Navickas, the Lithuanian Olympian and singles head coach of the French national badminton team.
