Dominating the world number one, the young European star claims the BWF World Tour Finals 2025 title

Overcoming the world’s top three players at the BWF World Tour Finals 2025 – a truly memorable event for the rising French star.

The French player – Christo Popov completed his incredible journey at the BWF World Tour Finals 2025 by impressively defeating the current world number one badminton Shi Yuqi 21-19; 21-9 in the final held on the evening of December 21st.

Popov delivered an outstanding performance – not only in the gold medal match but throughout the entire prestigious badminton tournament this year. The 23-year-old displayed excellent skills: powerful smashes, precise forehand pressure, sharp defensive counterattacks with great court coverage and smart shot anticipation, as well as strong stamina; he also showed great fighting spirit, staying composed despite it being his first World Tour Finals, demonstrating remarkable resilience under pressure from a tough opponent.

Similar to his semi-final against Kodai Naraoka, Popov had a tight battle with Shi Yuqi in the first game. Although leading during the critical points, he allowed the home favorite to save two game points. Despite the intense pressure from the enthusiastic Hangzhou crowd supporting Shi, the European player remained calm and secured the first game 21-19 to take a 1-0 lead.

The second game was entirely dominated by Popov. Shi Yuqi tried to turn the final around, but faced with a "steel wall" on the other side, the world number one struggled more and more. Popov raced to a convincing 21-9 victory, becoming the new World Tour Finals champion.

Notably, despite his rapid rise in 2025 reaching the world top 10, this is Christo Popov’s first title of the season and the third BWF trophy in his career – having won two Super 300 titles but never a Super 500, 750, or 1000 event before.

On his magical run in Hangzhou, Popov consecutively defeated: world number 2 Anders Antonsen, number 3 Kunlavut Vitidsarn, number 5 Jonatan Christie, number 9 Kodai Naraoka, and finally world number 1 Shi Yuqi. Truly unbelievable!

In other categories, An Se-young successfully defended her crown with a hard-fought victory over the 2023 champion Wang Zhiyi. Kim Won-ho, Seo Seung-jae won the men’s doubles World Tour Finals title together for the first time, completing a dominant 2025 season, while another Korean pair also celebrated: Baek Ha-na/Lee So-hee (women’s doubles).

The only champions from the host nation China were Feng Yanzhe/Huang Dongping in the mixed doubles category.