PC Ashley Gibson from Preston Police has won the coveted title of Mixed Doubles Champion in the Police Sport UK National Badminton Championships.
AdvertisementThe event was held in Hatfield, Hertfordshire and hosted by the Metropolitan Police. Every police service from each region throughout the United Kingdom participated in the event. He won mixed doubles event with DC Bethan Higginson from Cheshire Police.
PC Gibson, from Hoghton, started playing badminton at 10 years old at Primary School.
Within a couple of months of playing, he was already selected to play junior county badminton for Lancashire, winning numerous tournaments along the way including being Lancashire School’s Champion.
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After school he gained a sports scholarship with Preston College and won the British College national men’s double’s title.
PC Gibson has played and won numerous titles and tournaments in the local leagues and is still playing now in the Mid Lancashire and Blackburn badminton league.
Each year a different Police region hosts the badminton nationals and since his debut in 2006, PC Gibson has won seven national titles including three men’s doubles and four mixed doubles.
Police Sport UK has a national badminton side that plays two matches per year against strong opposition.
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Previous opponents include Scotland select side, England Under 19’s, Wales select side, Ireland select side and British Universities. PC Gibson has been selected and played 48 matches for the national side.
Every two years there is a Police European badminton event with countries including UK, Sweden, Denmark, Slovenia, Netherlands, Ireland and Germany competing.
The European event includes a team tournament and an individual event. PC Gibson has previously won the European team event and the European mixed doubles individual event.
He has been selected to represent the UK team in November 2022 in Kolding, Denmark and will be hoping to add more medals to his already impressive record.
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