Sally Munday: England Hockey CEO to become UK Sport chief

Munday was appointed MBE in 2013 for services to hockey

The chief executive of England Hockey, Sally Munday, is to become the new head of UK Sport.

Munday has held the role at England Hockey for 10 years, overseeing Great Britain women's first Olympic gold medal at the Rio 2016 Games.

She will replace Liz Nicholl as UK Sport chief executive in the autumn.

"The past decade has been such a successful period for Olympic and Paralympic sport in this country," Munday said.

"I know from personal experience that the UK Sport team have played such a key role in supporting the National Governing Bodies and their athletes in what has been an unprecedented period of success both in terms of medals and bringing major sporting events to this country.

"I am extremely excited to join UK Sport at this particular time, not only in the lead in to Tokyo 2020 but also the opportunity to implement the new UK Sport strategy leading to Beijing 2022 and Paris 2024."

In November 2018, Nicholl announced she would step down in July after eight years in the role.

In the 20 years she has worked for UK Sport, 863 medals have been won by British athletes at the summer and winter Olympic and Paralympic Games.

"I am really delighted with Sally's appointment," said Nicholl.

"She is highly respected in the industry, has experience across all areas of our business and will be able to build on the success of UK Sport and the high-performance system to date and drive the delivery of the new strategy. I look forward to working with her over the coming months to enable a smooth transition."

Dame Katherine Grainger, chair of UK Sport, said: "Sally has led a sport that's not only excelled on and off the field of play at elite and grassroots level, but also delivered an impact both domestically and internationally.

"Her expertise and strong leadership will be invaluable as well as her passion and vision."