Three weeks to go until the European Junior Championships in Tallinn. A number of 36 countries have entered for the team event and the draw has also already been done.. As for the individual event, the draw will be done later, but there are definitely some favourites already!

Christo Popov (France) had a quite good year. He was in the last eight of the World Junior Championships, the result of 2017 he is most proud of.

During the European Junior U17 Championships some weeks later, he was the favourite to win the tournament, but lost in the quarter finals to later winner Georgii Karpov (Russia). There was no time to be sad about this as he still won the men’s doubles U17 title with Kenji Lovang.

One year later, he is one of the favourites in the U19 tournament, just like the French team is for the team tournament.

- I am really looking forward to this tournament. I think we have our chance to win the title for the team event.

Read: Siblings succeed in Bulgaria

Ready for everything

- My goal is the gold medal! Just like everyone else in the tournament I think.

Besides the team event, Popov is only going to play singles during the European Junior Championships. He would follow his brother Toma Junior Popov if he succeeds to take that medal in men’s singles. He is however fully aware about his competition with the same goal.

- My preparation for the tournament is hard and very physical at the moment. Because I need to be ready for everything.

You can find the draw of the European Junior Champiohships 2018 here