BADMINTON Golf for Sam Magee at the European Junior Championships Doubles

Colm McCashin CEO Badminton Ireland

"I am absolutely delighted for Sam and tremendously proud of him on behalf of all of us in Badminton Ireland. I also wish to acknowledge our partnership with French badminton and Sam's outstanding partner Sylvain Grosjean.We owe a debt of gratitude to Tom Reidy and Jim Laugesen amongst others in recent times who have put in a huge amount of work with Sam as well as the strong support of the Magee family over the years, not only have Raphoe got an Olympian in Sam's sister Chloe but they also now have a European Champion and Sam has brought great honour to Donegal and Ireland. Badminton Ireland have in place a High Performance Programme that is the envy of other Nations and I hope that Sam's performance inspires others to follow in his footsteps".

Gordon Sim - High Performance Panel

"Sam's Gold medal winning performance in the European Junior's along with doubles partner Sylvain Grosjean of France is an historic first for Irish badminton. Credit first and foremost must to go to Sam for the tremendous hard work and dedication he has put into training at the Team Ireland High Performance Centre in Denmark and to our coaching staff Jim Laugesen and Thomas Stuer Lauridsen. With strong support from the Irish Sports Council and Badminton Ireland we have a framework in place that draws upon best practice enabling us to train and prepare our young players for badminton at the highest level in a supportive but high intensity environment. We are now developing a foundation High Performance Programme in Ireland that will operate to a common standard and enable us bring through the stars of the future. Sam has set the bar and Irish High Performance badminton looks forward to supporting more young players to reach for the stars!"

Jim Laugesen - Team Ireland HP Coach

This was a phenomenal achievement by Sam and Sylvain particularly after their silver medals in the Dutch and German junior's two of the toughest tournament's in the world. As No.1 seeds they were under pressure from the beginning and soaked it up all the way through. The final was a pretty nervous affair particularly as the first set went 27-25 in our favour. The Danish opposition played a very clever game keeping the net and playing a lot of soft shot's to take the initiative away from us. The guy's kept their nerve despite losing the second set and Sam was highly effective in the third moving the Danes around and finding the gaps that took us through to victory. People at home in Ireland may not realise the huge amount of effort that has gone into achieving this result and the sheer weight of training and competition that Sam has been exposed to both at Gentofte and in the Danish league. Sam is a credit to Irish badminton and has a very good future ahead of him.

Sam Magee - Ireland's new European Badminton Champion

"I just can't believe it, I can't take it in, I know it will hit me at some point, Sylvain's the same, it's totally unbelievable. I want to thank Jim for his coaching, he knew exactly what it was like as he had won this exact event before,also my Mum, Dad, family and supporters back at home I know that the nerves must have nearly ended them, also everyone in Team Ireland for their encouragement and support, I was very nervous but thankfully me and Sylvain managed to hold it together and come home with the Gold. We were both very nervous ahead of the game but we had our tactics right and Jim (Laugesen) had analyzed the Danish style of play very well and we just focused on that to help us through. This is a very important win for Ireland I feel as it proves to all us players and to Europe that the system Badminton Ireland have put in places is working well under Jims direction." said a delighted Magee after his historic win"