On behalf of everybody at Badminton England, we want to place on report our honest because of Blended Doubles pair Lauren Smith and Marcus Ellis who’ve as we speak introduced their choice to step away from the elite programme.
Each individually and as a pair, Lauren and Marcus have represented England and Nice Britain with dedication, pleasure and positivity and we want to want them each the perfect of luck within the subsequent chapter of their careers.
35-year-old Ellis moved away from his hometown, Huddersfield, on the age of 17 – relocating to Milton Keynes to dedicate himself to the Badminton England programme on the Nationwide Badminton Centre. He received his first title in 2009 with Heather Olver on the Belgium Worldwide.
Most notably Marcus received an historic bronze on the Rio 2016 Olympic Video games with companion Chris Langridge – their medal was the primary males’s doubles Olympic medal for Workforce GB. He and Chris went on to win Commonwealth Video games and European Video games Gold.
Cumbrian Lauren received her first worldwide title in 2010, whereas at college, and joined the Nationwide Squad in Milton Keynes two years later. She went on to play at two Olympic Video games, successful a number of Commonwealth Video games and European medals.
Collectively, Marcus and Lauren reached a career-high world rating of seven, claimed the European Video games Gold in Minsk 2019, received 5 World Tour titles and reached the semi-finals of the Yonex All England on two events.
After a final eight end in Tokyo, qualification for this summer season’s Olympic Video games proved simply past Lauren and Marcus this yr. Nonetheless, the pair have left an enduring legacy which now we have little question will serve to encourage these at first of their journey with Badminton England.
Head of Efficiency at Badminton England, Mark Beecher, stated: “I want to take this chance to thank each Lauren and Marcus for all their unimaginable dedication to the programme, their endless dedication to growing their sport and the bar they’ve set for others who’ve watched them play, skilled alongside them or competed in opposition to them throughout greater than a decade with Badminton England. They’ve competed on the very highest stage in our sport and we’re happy with all they’ve achieved.”
Good luck for the long run Lauren and Marcus!