Kelly Sibley (born 21 May 1988) is a former professional table tennis player and current coach from England. Sibley won the singles, girls doubles and mixed doubles at the UK Junior Championships and has represented England at senior level at the Commonwealth Games, European Championships and World Championships.
| Kelly Sibley | ||||||||||||||||||
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 Kelly Sibley at the Pro B French Championships in 2006 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||
| Full name | Kelly Michelle Sibley | |||||||||||||||||
| Nationality |  England | |||||||||||||||||
| Residence | Nottingham | |||||||||||||||||
| Born | 21 May 1988 Leamington Spa, England | |||||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.72 m (5 ft 8 in) | |||||||||||||||||
| Weight | 68 kg (150 lb) | |||||||||||||||||
Table tennis career | ||||||||||||||||||
| Playing style | Right Hand Attacking Shakehand | |||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Biography
editSibley began playing table tennis aged 8 years old at Lillington Free Church table tennis club in Lillington, Leamington Spa, inspired by her mother Lynn Bolitho, a former county-level table tennis player.[1]
In 2000, she represented England at the English Schools Championships.[2]
At the age of 13, she was invited to live and train at the National Training centre in Nottingham where she was coached by Alan Cooke[2] before relocating to the English Institute of Sport in Sheffield.[3]
Sibley represented England at the Commonwealth Games twice without medalling; once in Melbourne, Australia (2006) and again in Delhi, India (2010) where she finished in fourth place in the team women's event. At Glasgow 2014, she won her first Commonwealth Games medal when she took bronze in the mixed doubles alongside Danny Reed.[4]
She also gained a Ladies Doubles Bronze Medal at the 2009 Commonwealth Championships, a team silver at the 2013 Commonwealth Championships[5] and a Division Two Gold Medal at the 2008 World Team Championships in China.[6]
Sibley won 10 consecutive international matches at the 2011 European Championships in Poland and promoted the England Women's team to the top tier.
Funding cuts threatened her chance to compete at the London 2012 Olympics, but it was announced on 30 May 2012 that Sibley would be competing in the games, where she competed in the team event, losing to North Korea in the opening round.[2][7][8]
Sibley has won national singles titles at Cadet, Junior, U21 and Senior level, girls' doubles titles at U12, Cadet and Junior levels, women's doubles at Senior level and mixed doubles at Junior and Senior Levels.[9] She won the women's singles national championship in March 2015[10] and was runner up the next two years.
In June 2015 she was part of the Great Britain table tennis squad which competed at the inaugural European Games in Baku.[11] At the 2018 Commonwealth Games Sibley won a bronze medal in the team event, beating Australia in the play-off game.[12] Shortly after the games she announced her retirement from the sport in order to focus on her job as head coach at the University of Nottingham[13]
As a player, she was sponsored by local firms Wright Hassell,[14] Building and Plumbing Supplies and, in 2011, sports betting site OLBG.com.[15]
Personal life
editSibley married her wife Laura in April 2017. They met just after the 2012 Summer Olympics whilst Laura was working at a table tennis bar. She proposed to Sibley whilst in The Shard viewing St Paul's Cathedral.[16]
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ "Kelly Sibley - Team GB - London 2012 Olympics". The Telegraph. Archived from the original on 19 November 2011.
- ^ a b c "Leamington's table tennis star gears up for Olympic dream - Local". Warwick Courier. 10 August 2011.
- ^ "Personal Profile". Kellysibley.com. Archived from the original on 19 November 2011. Retrieved 16 November 2011.
- ^ "Husband and wife claim doubles gold". BBC Sport.
- ^ "Girls earn silver in Commonwealths".
- ^ "Table tennis star Kelly wins gold - Leamington Courier". Archived from the original on 14 July 2014. Retrieved 30 June 2014.
- ^ "BBC Sport - Table Tennis - Table tennis star Kelly Sibley fears for Olympic dream". BBC News. 1 December 2010.
- ^ "Olympics: Kelly Sibley named in GB table tennis team - Other Sport - Sport - Coventry Telegraph". Archived from the original on 21 February 2013. Retrieved 19 June 2012.
- ^ "Mark Bates Ltd National Championships".
- ^ "Pitchford & Sibley win at nationals". BBC Sport.
- ^ "Sibley stunned by opponent's comeback".
- ^ https://results.gc2018.com/en/table-tennis/results-women-s-team-fnl-00020000.htm Commonwealth Games results page
- ^ https://teamengland.org/news/gold-coast-2018-medallist-kelly-sibley-retires- Team England announcement of her retirement
- ^ "News - Kelly Sibley". Wright Hassall. 23 September 2010.
- ^ http://www.olbg.com/about/OLBG%20Keep%20Olympic%20Prospect%27s%20Dream%20Alive.pdf Archived 27 February 2012 at the Wayback Machine [dead link]
- ^ https://www.gaystarnews.com/article/table-tennis-athlete-kelly-sibley/#gs.IP28obg Archived 20 February 2022 at the Wayback Machine Article on the couple on the Gay Star News website