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Paul Reynolds: We are ready
Date: 4/7/2020 1:52 PM
Published by : BEC Staff

The emerald isle at the westernmost point of Europe is a small badminton nation, yet can create top players that compete on the international stage. We speak to a young Irishman who aspires to push the boundaries even further. 


Paul Reynolds, 21, is developing well with many promising players around him. Discussing how it looks like inside the Irish camp, he states. 


- I think our team has great potential, although we are quite a small group, we train very hard and help each other every day. We are still quite young so hopefully; we can continue to improve and challenge for more medals at both individual and team championships.


Together with his men’s doubles partner, Joshua Magee, he won the Czech Open last year. Ranked number 88 in the world, and the number one men’s doubles pair in Ireland, they also represented their country at the World Championships in Basel. In the mixed doubles, with Rachael Darragh, there was a handful of quarter and semifinals throughout last season on the European Circuit. Touching on areas to improve upon in order to continue this rise, Reynolds responds.


- It is hard to say exactly as there are many areas we need to improve on to move on to the next level to win challenges and compete on the world tour. I think we are still quite inexperienced, so we need to improve our consistency. We need to work not just harder but also smarter. I think taking advantage of sparring opportunities will also help us a lot.


Read: Michal Rogalski: I could not imagine a more difficult Olympic season


No secret


The stars of the Irish team are undoubtedly Sam and Chloe Magee, currently just outside the world’s top 30 in mixed doubles. The brother and sister combo told us in a BEC Podcast that retirement is not off the cards following Tokyo. Thinking about what this would mean for Ireland, Reynolds said. 


- It’s no secret that Sam and Chloe are coming to the ends of their career whenever that maybe, but I think Ireland will still be in a very good position. While we will lose two of our best players, they have helped us younger guys a lot through the years and I think we are ready to take on the responsibility. We have been preparing for this recently which we saw in the recent European men’s and women’s team championship where they did not compete. 


The future of Ireland is already stepping forward, with Reynolds and Joshua Magee and Nhat Nguyen. Joshua has already tasted the feeling of European success when winning a bronze at the 2015 European Games with his brother Sam. Reynolds discusses if this new generation can build on this. 


- Yes I think myself, Josh and Nhat have the potential to medal at such championships in the future, we are working hard towards these big events in the future and I hope and believe we can see us on podiums. We also have a group of girls who are working hard and have a bright future so let's see what happens there.


Lastly, Reynolds shares his main aspirations and future career goals. 


- The ultimate goal is to reach the Olympics in Paris. Of course, we have to improve a lot to reach this goal, but I don’t see any reason why we can’t achieve this if we work hard enough. However, it’s a long journey and lots of things have to go to plan. In the short term, our goal is to put ourselves in a chance of winning challenges by reaching the later stages and reaching the top 50 in the world.

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