Andrew Baggaley (born 26 February 1983) is a professional table tennis player from Milton Keynes. He is England's leading table tennis medal winner of all time in the Commonwealth Games, winning two gold medals in Manchester, England (2002), 1 silver medal in Melbourne, Australia (2006), 1 silver and 1 bronze medal in Delhi, India (2010) and 1 silver in Glasgow, Great Britain.[1][2]
| Andrew Baggaley | |
|---|---|
 Andrew Baggaley playing for DKV Borges | |
| Personal information | |
| Nationality |  England |
| Residence | Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, England |
| Born | 26 February 1983 |
| Height | 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in) |
| Weight | 75 kg (165 lb; 11.8 st) |
Table tennis career | |
| Playing style | Shakehand grip |
Medal record | |
Early life and junior career
editBaggaley was born in Northampton. He started playing the sport with his mother Yvonne in the back garden of the family home in Milton Keynes in the Summer of 1987 aged 4 and has been coached almost exclusively by his brother Stephen Baggaley throughout his career.
Andrew Baggaley became Britain’s youngest ever professional table tennis player by signing terms to play for Brussels-based Belgian National League team TTC Logis Auderghem aged 13 (1996). He has subsequently played in national leagues across Europe including Germany, Sweden and Spain.
Andrew Baggaley made his England Junior International début aged 12 in the European Cadet (Under 14) Six Nations Championships in Soham (1995), and went on to win European Youth Medals at both Cadet and Junior (Under 17) categories; England’s first medals at these prestigious events for almost a decade alongside the likes of David Melder. Baggaley has won 23 English National Junior titles and has been ranked England number 1 in every age group (Under 10,11,12,14,17,21). He also became the youngest ever British Men’s Singles Champion aged 15 when he won the British Home Countries Title in Oban, Scotland (1998).
Senior career
editHe made his England Senior International début at the French Open in 1997 aged 14 and also represented England at the 44th World Table Tennis Championships in Manchester, England later that year.
Baggaley became England number 1 senior aged 20 (2003), the youngest at the time for 20 years.
He is a triple English Men’s Singles National Champion by winning the senior title in Sheffield in 2002, 2008 and 2010.[3]
At the time, his 2002 victory aged just 19 was the youngest winner of the Men’s Singles National Title for 40 years and he is still only one of 3 teenage winners of the title.
Notable wins
editBaggaley has defeated many world-class players from both Europe and Asia including victories over Peter Karlsson (Sweden) and Jean-Michel Saive (Belgium) both former European Singles Champion, Chiang Peng-Lung (Chinese Taipei) the former Asian Singles Champion, Gao Ning (Singapore) the Asian Cup champion and Jörgen Persson (Sweden) the 1991 World Champion.
In November 2011 Andrew Baggaley officially became the highest-ranked British player on the ITTF ranking list with a World Ranking of 142.[4]
International tournament wins
editBaggaley is England's leading table tennis medal winner of all time in the Commonwealth Games, winning two gold medals in Manchester, England (2002), 1 silver medal in Melbourne, Australia (2006), 1 silver and 1 bronze medal in Delhi, India (2010) and 1 silver in Glasgow, Great Britain.[1][5] He is also World Champion 2015 of Ping Pong, after beating reigning champion Maxim Shmyrev in the semi-final and Alexander Fleming in the final. He also won the World Championship of Ping Pong in 2016,[6] 2019, beating three previous champions on his way to the trophy,[7] and 2020.
Other roles
editAndrew Baggaley was the Table Tennis motion capture actor for the Xbox 360 game Kinect Sports.[8]
He was a Bid Ambassador for the London 2012 Olympics where he was selected to play in the Team GB Table Tennis team.[9]
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ a b "London Games the new target for Baggaley". Milton Keynes Citizen. 24 November 2010. Retrieved 24 November 2010.
- ^ "Glasgow 2014: England men take silver after losing to Singapore". BBC Sport. 28 July 2014.
- ^ "Baggaley completes an historic hat-trick". Milton Keynes Citizen. 11 March 2010. Archived from the original on 15 March 2010. Retrieved 21 March 2010.
- ^ "ITTF November 2011 World Ranking list" (PDF). ITTF. 1 November 2011. Retrieved 7 November 2011.
- ^ "Glasgow 2014: England men take silver after losing to Singapore". BBC Sport. 28 July 2014.
- ^ "Baggaley is new king of Ping". World Championship of Ping Pong. 30 January 2015. Archived from the original on 29 January 2015. Retrieved 1 February 2015.
- ^ "Andrew Baggaley wins BetVictor World Championship of Ping Pong". Sky Sports. Retrieved 29 January 2019.
- ^ "He's got the motion". Rare. 15 March 2011. Retrieved 18 March 2011.
- ^ "Baggaley closes in on Olympic target". Milton Keynes Citizen. 22 July 2010. Retrieved 27 July 2010.
External links
edit- Andrew Baggaley official website
- 60 seconds in sport with table tennis champion Andrew Baggaley[dead link]
- Interview with Andrew Baggaley
- Q&A with Andrew Baggaley
- Andrew Baggaley at World Table Tennis
- Andrew Baggaley at Team GB
- Andrew Baggaley at Olympics.com
- Andrew Baggaley at Olympedia
- Andrew Baggaley at the Commonwealth Games Federation (archived)
