TABLE TENNIS: Ifield Community College student Cheer brings home England team gold at Italian Youth Open

Crawley's Kate Cheer (middle, above) played a key role as England's Junior Girls team struck gold at the Italian Youth Open.

By The Newsroom

Published 16th Mar 2016, 18:26 BST

Updated 7th Jun 2018, 22:44 BST

Table tennis star Kate Cheer wins a gold medal for Emgland Junior Girls team at the Italian Youth Open at Lignano. From left - Tin-Tin Ho, Kate Cheer and Emily Bolton. Picture courtesy of the ITTF SUS-160316-181731002

Competing alongside Tin-Tin Ho, left, and Emily Bolton, right, in Lignano, 15-year-old ICC student Cheer won matches against Portugal and Italy A as England made it through the group stage by beating both nations 3-1 and then seeing off Croatia by the same score.

That put them through the semi-finals to face a combined team from Poland, Serbia and Slovenia and it was Cheer who won the decisive final match, beating Gaja Mavri 14-12 in the fifth game to put England into the final.

Although Cheer was defeated by Yukari Sugasawa in the final, two wins for Ho and one for Bolton saw England take the tie 3-2 and clinch gold.

England Italy