Hos nation Denmark joined France in the semifinals by beating Thailand 3-1, making it the first time that two European teams have featured in the last four of the same edition.
Christo Popov had the hard task of breaking down the first single Kodai Naraoka, which he eventually completed in 67 minutes, winning 21-17, 21-17
“When you play Kodai, you know it’s going to be long and you know he’s not going to make easy mistakes,” said Christo to the BWF website. “He’s going to make you run, make you sweat a lot, and he’s really good at that. I was prepared for that.”
Alex Lanier then cruised past Yushi Tanaka 21-15, 21-17, but France had to endure nervous moments as Watanabe threatened to take Toma Junior into a third set. However, Toma Junior had the final say, edging the Japanese 21-19, 23-21.
“I wanted to cry, but I cannot, because I’m too happy and too joyful and there’s no more energy left in my body,” said Toma Junior.
“I gave everything on the court. It’s just incredible. We wrote history on Tuesday to win against Indonesia and qualify, and now we write it again, our first medal in the team championships. And now I think we put a great stamp on the French Badminton Federation and France itself for the badminton, that we are coming, and we are ready to fight.”
France will now face India in the semi-final on Saturday evening.