MARIA Tsaptsinos bagged a bronze medal on her Commonwealth Games debut – and ended up a star attraction on the BBC website.

Tsaptsinos helped England on to the podium in the women’s team competition in Australia as they beat the hosts 3-1 in the bronze medal match.

The Reading player featured in the doubles alongside Kelly Sibley as they beat Jian Fang Lay and Miao Miao 3-1 (11-2, 9-11, 11-9, 11-7) to put England 2-1 ahead.

Tin-Tin Ho had earlier beaten Melissa Tapper 3-2 (11-4, 8-11, 11-3, 7-11, 11-8), before Sibley lost 3-2 (5-11, 21-19, 5-11, 11-7, 11-7) to Lay, but the doubles victory and Ho’s win 3-2 (11-7, 9-11, 14-12, 11-13, 11-6) over Miao saw England win their first ever Commonwealth Games women’s team medal.

As well as on the table, Tsaptsinos played a vital role from the bench, encouraging her team-mates and providing vocal support which helped to quieten the home crowd.

It did not go unnoticed, with the BBC putting together a compilation video of her enthusiastic support.

Tsaptsinos, 20, said: “Words can’t describe how happy I am right now, first Commonwealth Games, first medal, I’m just so happy for all the girls.”

England had reached the semi-finals thanks to 3-0 victories over Guyana and Vanuatu in the groups and a 3-1 defeat of Canada in the quarter-finals, with Sibley and Tsaptsinos winning the doubles in every match.

However, they came up against eventual gold medallists India in the semi finals and were beaten 3-0, losing the doubles 3-1 (11-7, 8-11, 11-7, 11-1) to Madhurika Patkar and Mouma Das.

Tsaptsinos is also representing England in the individual women’s singles and doubles, which started earlier this week.