Enfield table tennis ace Denise Payet missed out on the gold medal in agonizing fashion at the Cadet Masters.

The 13-year-old Enfield County student was top seed for the event, which brings together the top 12 players in the Table Tennis England rankings to play against each other on a round-robin basis over the best of five sets.

And she won her first ten matches to move into pole position for the title.

However, her final match against number two seed Kate Cheer saw her beaten in four sets. With both girls having won ten matches, Cheer took the gold medal by virtue of having beaten Payet, who was forced to settle for silver.

Payet said: “I don’t think I played my best but I tried. I think I was a bit too nervous and maybe the pressure got to me a little bit and I lost concentration (against Cheer). Having the lunch break before probably didn’t help.

“Overall, I played all right. It’s hard to always play your best – there’s always a time when you have to drop.”