PETALING JAYA: France were on fire by shocking Indonesia to reach the Thomas Cup Finals top-eight knockout stage.
France buried Indonesia's hopes of clearing the group stage by pulling of a sensational 4-1 win in their final Group D tie at Forum Horsens on Tuesday (April 29).
France completed the group as the second best and will join Thailand into the knockout round.
It is the first time that the 14-time Thomas Cup winners Indonesia have failed to clear the group stage in the Finals.
All three teams had won twice in the group but Thailand and France made the cut for having won more matches.
France led by world No. 4 Christo Popov started the ball rolling when he defeated Jonatan Christie 21-19, 21-14 in the first singles.
Alex Lanier stepped up the tempo by beating Alwi Farhan 21-16, 21-19 in the second but old-timer Anthony Ginting failed to prevent the Indonesian singles collapse when he went down fighting 22-20, 15-21, 20-22 to Toma Junior Popov.
And it did not stop there as Adam Eloi-Leo Rossi did the unthinkable by beating Indonesia where it hurts most - in their doubles - with a sensational 21-19, 21-19 win against Moh Reza-Sabar Karyaman.
In the final match, Indonesia salvaged one point through Fajar Alfian-Mohd Shohibul. The duo beat the Popov brothers 21-18, 19-21, 21-11, but the damage had already been done.
France make it to the quarter-finals for the first time while badminton giants Indonesia fail to clear the group stage for the very first time.
"We are more than proud,” said Toma in an interview with the Badminton World Federation.
“Leo and Eloi show that in this hall. They are capable of amazing things. They won the silver here at the European Championships in Horsens. Maybe that’s why the team put them for this men’s doubles.
"And I think we did the job, and we show it. Just congrats to them, and congrats to all the men singles.
The win still had not sunk in for Christo.
“If you told me 2, 3, 4, years ago, that we beat Indonesia, it’s kind of - who’s gonna win the matches, you know?” said his brother Christo.
"But yeah, I think today we just showed honestly what type what we are capable of as a team.
"I think we didn’t only win match by match, but we won as a team today.
"And those who were playing and not playing really hyped, and I think they gave us also a lot of energy, especially on crucial moments, like the end of first game for me and his (Toma’s) amazing match against Anthony Ginting.
"Let’s say it was a very big team match, and we are so proud and happy to win it together.”
