Sibley shakes off injury to bag Olympic spot

Sibley, who celebrated her 24th birthday on Monday, looked an automatic choice for the team after winning the National singles title in March.

However, a hip injury brought on by demands of her heavy workload forced her to miss the final world Olympic qualifying tournament in Qatar and put her place in jeopardy.

“I was pushing my body to the max and the muscle in my hip didn’t like it,” said Sibley, who is the number one-ranked English female.

“It was really frustrating to pull out of Doha because I do believe I had a good chance of qualifying [for London] automatically, but I couldn’t risk it when I was only 50 per cent fit.

“I would have kicked myself if I pulled the hip even further and missed out altogether.”

Selected as a first reserve for Beijing in 2008, Sibley missed out due to an operation on her left hip and admitted the fresh hip injury was “bad timing”.

However, rather than feel sorry for herself, the Leamington Free Church president knuckled down to an intensive period of rehabilitation at the National Sports Centre in Bisham Abbey.

Sibley underwent MRI scans, injections in her hip and rigorous training sessions on the bike and treadmill in a bid to return to full fitness and got her reward with a place in the women’s team alongside Joanna Parker and Liu Na.

“I could have sat and dwelt on the hip and thought it’s such bad timing and ended up being even more depressed,” she said.

“But I pulled myself together, did the rehab and I think the selectors saw that.

“I could have missed out altogether so to be rewarded with an Olympic place is amazing.”

After weeks of uncertainty it means Sibley will now be able to fully subscribe to the Olympic fever.

And, while she says she is unsure whether her accreditation will allow her to take in many of the other Games events, she says just being able to represent her country in a home Olympics is the stuff of dreams.

“It’s an amazing feeling knowing I’m going to be a part of it.

“People were excited about it but I’ve always had it in the back of my mind that I may not be going.

“Every sports person will tell you it’s their dream to play in a home Olympic Games and as a GB athlete you couldn’t write it any better.

“It’s a fantastic opportunity to share this moment with all of your friends and family.”

Having come through her first session back at the table on Tuesday without any ill-effects, Sibley expects to be back to full fitness by the time the team competition kicks off at ExCel on August 3.

And having won ten successive matches at the 2011 European Championships in Poland to help the women’s team gain promotion to the top tier, she has similarly high aspirations for the Olympics.

“It will be really difficult with all the best players in the world there.

“But we’ve got a chance against anyone, especially with the home support lifting us.”

Sibley will now spend the next month at an intensive training camp in China with the rest of the GB table tennis squad as they hone their skills ahead of the big event.