Refrath. The year 2026 will be a particularly exciting one for three exceptional talents from TV Refrath’s badminton department. The European Youth Championships will take place in Tatabanya (Hungary) from August 18th to 27th. The three of them really want to qualify for this tournament and then play for the medals there.
Kalliope Hermel and Maike Iffland attend the Otto-Hahn-Gymnasium Bensberg, where they would like to graduate from high school in spring 2027. You have been playing badminton for ten years and train at TV Refrath at least once a day. A year and a half ago, the two now 17-year-olds decided against moving to the federal youth training center in Mülheim/Ruhr and in favor of continuing to live in their home environment instead of at the “badminton boarding school”.
In complete contrast, Fynn Ohliger, also 17 years old and with TVR since he was 12, took the step to Mülheim in the summer of 2024 and has been training twice a day on site with the responsible national trainers since then. He is a member of the German Badminton Association’s junior squad, while Hermel and Iffland are preparing for their goal together with the TV Refrath coaching team.
Six qualifying tournaments left
Despite their different paths, the three competitive athletes are on the “Road to European Championships”. Six of the twelve planned tournaments have been completed and the interim results are impressive. Fynn Ohliger and his partner Linus Emmerich have made it into the top 8 European pairings in the U19 doubles world rankings; the two girls are even ranked number 1 in Europe together. The Refrathers made it to at least the semi-finals in all six tournaments during the qualifying period. The most recent highlight was the tournament victory at the Czech Junior in Orlova in November. This was followed by the German runner-up as a young age group and third place at the German Ruhr International. All three are trying to qualify for the 2026 European Championships in doubles and mixed doubles. Kalliope Hermel also has a chance in the girls’ singles, where she is currently ranked 25th in Europe. At the end of May, the final nomination for the annual highlight of Kalliope Hermel, Maike Iffland and Fynn Ohliger will take place.
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