Sibley eyes gold after final defeat for England

England began as massive underdogs against reigning champions Singapore with a combined 635 world ranking places between the two sides.

But with confidence swelled by comfortable wins over Australia, Malaysia and Sri Lanka en route to a semi-final win over host nation India, England sensed a shock was possible.

Joanna Parker lost in four to world number four Feng Tianwei but Sibley went blow for blow with Yu Mengyu despite the Singaporean being ranked more than 200 places higher than her.

The former Lillington Free Church star was edged out 14-12 and 16-14 before taking the third game off the world number 27 to keep herself in contention.

However, Mengyu’s 11-9 hold in the fourth put Singapore 2-0 ahead and they confirmed their gold medal when 14-year-old Tin-Tin Ho lost in straight games to Zhou Yihan.

Sibley will now turn her attentions to the singles, mixed and women’s doubles in New Delhi, but she could not resist looking ahead to next year’s Commonwealths in Scotland.

“I’m gutted to lose but pleased with my performances and, of course, the silver medal,” said Sibley.

“It has given us confidence for next year’s Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.”