The French team, which met the Chinese men's team in the group stage yesterday, although the overall strength is not as good as the Chinese team, the performance of their two main players, the Popov brothers, is notable. The brothers played a pair of the French team, and the younger brother Popov Jr. also played a single heavy role, fighting with Lu Guangzu for three sets, and finally tired to cramp and regret. In the final double battle, the Popov brothers also snatched a round from the hands of the new "twin towers" of the Chinese team.
In fact, in addition to the Popov brothers, there are several pairs of interesting brothers and sisters on the field of this year's Toyo Cup.
French Popov brothers
What makes the Popov brothers special is that both are single and double all-rounders, and both have good strength.
Older brother Thomas Popov Jr. is 24 years old and has a height of 1.96 meters, and the men's singles is ranked 26th in the world, which is currently the highest ranking in the French men's singles; younger brother Kristo Popov is 20 years old this year, and unlike his brother, Bobov Jr. holds the left hand to shoot, and the current men's singles world ranking is 58th.
Both brothers have won the Men's Singles Championship at the European Youth Championships, and Popov Jr. won the Men's Singles Runner-up at the World Youth Championships in 2019. In addition, the men's doubles of the two brothers is currently ranked 29th in the world.
Interestingly, as the first men's singles player in France, Bobov did not play in the men's singles against the Chinese team yesterday, only played in the men's doubles. His younger brother Popov Jr. was promoted to the first men's singles and fought with Lu Guangzu for 118 minutes. Today, Bobov posed a single against Denmark to challenge Arcelor, but lost 0-2 due to the gap in strength.
Thailand Emmsard sisters
The host Thai women's team also has a pair of sister flowers, the ElMsard combination. Sister Lentakarn Emsard is 23 years old and ranked 256th in the women's singles world; sister Bunyapa Emsad is 20 years old and ranks 92nd in the women's singles world.
Although the women's singles ranking is not high, the sisters' main event is women's doubles, and the world ranking has reached the 30th place in women's doubles. At the India Open earlier this year, they won their first Super 500 title and finished second in women's doubles at last month's Korea Open.
Yesterday, the sisters took the second doubles of the Thai women's team in the group stage, taking this point from the Malaysian women's team.
Singapore Locke Brothers
After Luo Jianyou won the World Championship, he and his brother Luo Jianxian became very famous. Unlike other sibling combinations, the two brothers did not play as partners.
All along, the older brother Luo Jianxian has focused on doubles, and the younger brother Luo Jianyou has specialized in singles. This time in Bangkok, Luo Jianyou not only appeared in the final round of the Soup Cup for the first time, but also played hand in hand with his brother for the first time.
Group A, where the Singapore men's team is located, is known as the "death group" of the soup cup, and Indonesia, South Korea and Thailand are in this group. In the first two matches, the Singapore men's team lost 1-4 to the Indonesian men's team and 2-3 to the South Korean men's team, and they have no chance to qualify. However, Luo Jianyou performed well, beating Heo Youxi and Kim Ting 2-0. The first men's doubles of brothers Luo Jianxian and Xu Yongkai has not yet won. In the final group match, they will lead Singapore to compete with the Thai men's team for third place in the group, fighting for honours and points.