FOURTEEN-year-old Jersey badminton star Rory Le Masurier continued his impressive run on the European junior circuit after returning from the Danish Youth Open 2026 in Farum with a silver-and-bronze-medal haul.
Le Masurier earned selection by Badminton England as part of the Under-15 squad travelling to Denmark, with eight boys and four girls chosen for the prestigious tournament and training experience.
The trip also included sessions at a Danish badminton academy, giving the young English players the chance to train in one of Europe’s strongest badminton environments.
Le Masurier competed in two disciplines alongside his regular partners — men’s doubles alongside Aarav Kotian of Kent and mixed doubles with Ava Dodkins of Staffordshire.
In the mixed doubles, Le Masurier and Dodkins produced a string of convincing straight-sets victories to reach the semi-finals, where they faced the tournament’s top seeds and Danish number ones.
The English pair battled hard in the opening game and showed flashes of the form that has made them one of the strongest partnerships on the circuit this season.
However, the Danish duo proved too strong, with Le Masurier and Dodkins eventually going down 21-13, 21-6 to settle for the bronze medal.
The result was particularly impressive given that, under the Danish tournament ranking system, all English players entered unseeded despite their strong European results this year. Had international rankings been used, Le Masurier and Dodkins would probably have been seeded second and on the opposite side of the draw.
Jersey’s teenage star enjoyed even greater success in the men’s doubles with long-standing partner Kotian.
The pair survived two gruelling three-set matches in the early rounds before producing one of their best performances of the tournament to defeat the second seeds 21-18, 21-17 in the quarter-finals.
That victory set up an all-English semi-final against familiar rivals who had beaten Le Masurier and Kotian in the final of the Kent Under-15 Gold event just two weeks earlier.
This time, however, Le Masurier and Kotian turned the tables in dramatic fashion, edging a tense contest 26-24, 21-19 to book their place in the final.
They were ultimately denied gold by the Danish number ones, narrowly losing the first game 22-20 before going down 21-13 in the second to take the silver medal overall.
Even so, the tournament marked another major step forward for the talented Jersey youngster, who has consistently delivered strong performances on the European stage throughout 2026.
Le Masurier now turns his attention back to the Badminton England Under-15 Gold circuit before a summer focused on further training and development.
