Kelly Sibley is relishing the chance to take on Olympic silver medallists Germany in their own back yard as England Leopards women get their European Championships qualifying campaign under way on Tuesday.

Sibley, Tin-Tin Ho and Karina Le Fevre will represent England in Leipzig in their first match of a qualifying group which also includes Slovenia.

On paper, it is a daunting task against a squad who were defeated by China in the Rio team final – and have also won the last three European Championship titles.

But Sibley says she and her team-mates will approach it positively and see if they can engineer a chance to cause an upset.

Sibley said:

“The pressure will all be on them and we’ve got to go there and see what we can do, but believe in ourselves and believe in our game and that we can do something – as difficult as it is on paper.

“We can cause them problems and if we get into those tight situations where matches are there to be won, we will try to take advantage of that. You never know what can happen.

“We’ve got to expect them to play their strongest team, but whatever team they put out will be strong, with high-quality players.

“They are the type of players you want to be competing against all the time and to thrive on playing not only the best in Europe but one of the best teams in the world.

“It’s a great opportunity for us to see where we are and take what we’ve learned back to the training hall and hopefully we’ll be in good shape for the home match against Slovenia, which is massive for us in that group.”

Tickets are now on sale for the match against Slovenia at Medway Park, Gillingham, on November 22, starting at £3, and for the England Leopards men’s match against Greece at Stokle on November 1. Click here to book tickets.

The return match against Germany is at the University of Central Lancashire in Preston on December 13 and tickets go on sale on Tuesday.