Team India celebrating their semifinals spot at the BWF Thomas Uber Cup Finals 2026. (Badminton Photo)

France defeated Japan 3-0 to make a historic march into the semifinals of the Thomas Cup where they will play India on Saturday night 9.30 pm IST.

After India blanked Chinese Taipei 3-0, France proceeded to similarly drub Japan 3-0, on the back of three straight singles wins.

Last year’s World Tour Finals champion and World No 4 Christo Popov defeated No 9 Kodai Naraoka, 21-17, 21-17. While Alex Lanier breezes past Yushi Tanaka, 21-15, 21-17.

In the third singles, Toma Jr Popov, older brother of Christo, won the battle of Top 20s, with Toma at No 17 and Koki Watanabe at No 20.…