Kingston University boxer Cristel Tansoe insisted she gave it her all as a gold medal at the Bucs Gatorade Nationals proved just out of her reach.

Tansoe was competing at Sheffield’s Ponds Forge last Friday as nearly 6,000 student athletes from 130 universities battled it out across 11 different sports.

The 24-year-old music student lost to University College London’s Marguerite Gallagher in the women’s U64kg final, but Tansoe refused to be too downhearted.

“I feel a little disappointed,” she said.

“I hit her with some big shots, but maybe she just caught me cleaner and landed a few more.

“I left it all in there. I wish there was more I could have done but there wasn’t really, she was just better on the day.

“There’s nothing I can put my finger on in terms of what I could have done, I think it’s just a case of her being better on the day.

“A silver medal is still a big achievement. It feels good to have won a medal.

“I’ve never been to Bucs before, but I hope I can get the chance to come here again because it was a really good experience.”

There was final heartache for another Kingston University boxer as Wezi Kumwenda fell at the final hurdle.

The 21-year-old lost her showpiece to the University of Brighton’s Kara Baah to add another silver medal.

“I think I just wanted it a little bit too much and I was not stepping out and she managed to get in first a lot of the time,” Kumwenda, who is studying computer science, said.

“I kept pressing forward and trying to be aggressive and she landed a few and I landed a few.

“There wasn’t really much in it.”

l Gatorade is the exclusive nutrition and hydration partner to British Universities & Colleges Sports and headline sponsor of the BUCS Gatorade Nationals. BUCS and Gatorade work together to educate student athletes on the importance of sports nutrition and hydration – visit: www.bucs.org.uk/gatorade