Biljana "Biba" Golić (Serbian Cyrillic: Биљана "Биба" Голић) (born 9 November 1977) is a Serbian table tennis player.
Biba Golić | |||||||||||||||||||||
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Full name | Biljana Golić | ||||||||||||||||||||
Nationality | Serbia | ||||||||||||||||||||
Born | Senta, Serbia, SFR Yugoslavia | November 9, 1977||||||||||||||||||||
Height | 1.70 m (5 ft 7 in) | ||||||||||||||||||||
Table tennis career | |||||||||||||||||||||
Playing style | Right-handed, all round player | ||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Early career
editBiba Golic began playing table tennis at age 9, becoming a member of the Serbian National Cadet team at age 12. She continued playing in the Serbia senior national system for 10 years.[1] Biba became a two-time Yugoslavian Singles Champion. In September 2001, she became the Mediterranean Games Champion in Women's Doubles with Gordana Plavšić.[2] In October 2001, she became a Balkan Champion in Women's Teams, in Women's Singles, in Mixed Doubles (with Bojan Milošević), and a runner-up in Women's Doubles (with Gordana Plavšić).[3]
In 2002, she joined the Bundes League in Germany, where she played for one year. Biba is a member of Killerspin Krew (athletes sponsored by Killerspin).
Collegiate career
editBiba attended Texas Wesleyan University for 18 months, on an athletic scholarship. At Texas Wesleyan, Biba became the National Collegiate Champion in singles, doubles, mixed doubles and team table tennis, and was also named the team's Most Valuable Player.
She transferred to the Illinois Institute of Technology, and was the No. 2 ranked NCAA women's player.
Recent career
editSince becoming one of the anchors of the "Killerspin Krew", Biba has played competitively and served as a spokesperson to heighten the popularity and awareness of the sport. Often called the "Anna Kournikova of table tennis", Biba was named as one of the "Sexiest Women in Sports" by ESPN in 2005 and appeared in ESPN's original The Body Issue.[4]
She has regularly participated in special events, where she performs exhibition matches. She has made numerous appearances on television news and profile shows, and most recently, in Hollywood feature films.
Some of her recent film and television appearances include:
- Balls of Fury
- Ping Pong Playa
- Welcome to the Parker
- The Best Damn Sports Show Period
- Spike TV - Guys Choice award winner - hottest athlete
- ESPN commercial "Follow Your Sports"[1]
- Mike and Mike in the Morning
As well as being featured in publications such as Time and Rolling Stone. The character Oksana Svedlovigoba in the story arc "Paint the Line", by Penny Arcade was based on her.
Results and accomplishments
edit- Portland Open Champion
- California Open Champion
- Ohio Open Champion
- US National Collegiate No. 2
- US National Collegiate Champion – Singles, Doubles, Mixed Doubles & Team 2003
- Yugoslavian Champion - Single (twice)
- Yugoslavian Champion - Team (twice)
- Yugoslavian Champion - Mixed Doubles (twice)
- Balkan Champion- Mixed Doubles
- Balkan Champion - Woman's Singles
- Second Place Balkan - Woman's Doubles
- Mediterranean Champion - Woman's Doubles
- Third place - Bulgarian Open- Singles
- Third place -European Junior Championships
- First place - Yugoslavian TOP-12
- Mediterranean Champion - Woman's Doubles[5]
References
edit- ^ Biba Golic Interview on ESPN, 3/17/09
- ^ "Biba Golic". Chicago. July 2008. Archived from the original on 22 June 2008.
- ^ "XXVIII Balkan Games results" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2019-04-17. Retrieved 2019-04-17.
- ^ ESPN Body Issue, 2009
- ^ Killerspin Biography
External links
edit- "Biba Golic coaches at the 2004 US National Table Tennis Championships"
- "Biba Golic photoshot at the 2007 US Open Table Tennis Tournament"
- "Biba autographs posters in the Killerspin booth"
- "Tennis Beauties vs. Ping Pong"
- Biba and Elie Best Damn Sport Show Period Video
- Biba - Behind the Seams
- Ladies Singles - Huang Kang Kang vs. Biba Golic
- USATT Player Statistics for Biba Golic