Biljana Golić

Biljana "Biba" Golić (Serbian Cyrillic: Биљана "Биба" Голић) (born 9 November 1977) is a Serbian table tennis player.

Biba Golić
Full nameBiljana Golić
Nationality Serbia
Born (1977-11-09) November 9, 1977
Senta, Serbia, SFR Yugoslavia
Height1.70 m (5 ft 7 in)
Table tennis career
Playing styleRight-handed, all round player
Medal record
Women's table tennis
Representing  Serbia
Mediterranean Games
Gold medal – first place2001 Tunis Women's doubles
European Youth Championships
Bronze medal – third place 1991 GranadaCadet girls' team

Early career

Biba 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

Biba 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

Since 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:

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
  • 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
  1. Biba Golic Interview on ESPN, 3/17/09
  2. "Biba Golic". Chicago. July 2008. Archived from the original on 22 June 2008.
  3. "XXVIII Balkan Games results" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2019-04-17. Retrieved 2019-04-17.
  4. ESPN Body Issue, 2009
  5. Killerspin Biography
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