General

Olga Konon and Linda Efler (Credit: Badminton Photo)
- We lost two strong partners
Date: 1/2/2019 10:38 AM
Published by : Annika Langrock
Linda Efler spoke to Badminton Europe about how the end of Carla Nelte’s and Olga Konon’s careers affects Team Germany and how badminton is developing in her home country. 

2018 is over now. For the German Doubles player, Linda Efler, it has been a good year but also a year of changes. 

Together with Olga Konon, she participated in four tournaments in 2018. The pair reached the semi-final at the YONEX Estonian International and the quarterfinal at the YONEX Swiss Open. 

The last match together

But Konon announced to stop playing for Team Germany, which implicates to not train at the German Doubles training centre in Saarbrucken anymore. 

The last match of Olga Konon/Linda Efler was at the European Championships in Huelva. The pair lost in the first round against Gabriela and Stefani Stoeva, who had a successful 2018.

Read the latest BEC Magazine issue, featuring the Stoeva sisters, here

After Konon ending her career, Efler is competing with Isabel Herttrich in Women’s Doubles now. Herttrich was playing with Carla Nelte before, who also decided to leave the German team to focus on her career as a primary school teacher. 

Efler revealed to Badminton Europe what has changed in the German team, since Nelte and Konon have finished their badminton careers.

- We lost two top players and strong training partners, she said.

- Both of them do not practise with us anymore, which means that our women team is smaller, and we train a lot with the Men’s team now, she added.  

More media presence in the future?


When it comes to the development of badminton in her home country, Efler knows what could be changed in the future: 

- Unfortunately, badminton is still a niche sports in Germany. Compared to other sports, the recognition by the media could be increased. 

Germany has qualified for the European Mixed Team Championships in Copenhagen in February. Get your tickets here
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