Family and friends of a teenager who died after collapsing while playing football in Golders Green said his death has left a “gaping hole in their lives”.

Former Hampstead School pupil Pavidran Thilagananther suffered a severe asthma attack and collapsed on a playing field in Golders Hill Park.

The 18-year-old, who lived in Eden Grove, Willesden Green, with his parents and two brothers, was rushed to the Royal Free Hospital in Pond Street, Hampstead, but died after lying in a coma for eight days.

His heartbroken mother, Suganthy, 43, said: “He was a friend to everybody, whether it was children, adults or people his own age. I miss him too much.

“We were all very close, we have lost a dear friend to the family and he will be missed by lots of people.”

An inquest at St Pancras Coroner’s Court on May 9 heard that Pavidran had complained to his friends of feeling unwell during the football game on February 25 this year.

He collapsed after suffering a severe asthma attack, which caused a lack of oxygen to the brain.

His brother Jamesh, 21, described Pavidran as “friendly and outgoing”.

“We knew he had asthma in the past,” he said. “He had an inhaler but he never really used it.

“He used to play a lot of basketball. It seemed completely random.”

Pavidran was studying for A-levels at Uxbridge College and hoped to go to university to study maths and engineering.

His former head of year at Hampstead School, Ben Ackland, said: “He was a kind, thoughtful and courteous young man, much loved by his many friends.

“He had special quality, rare at an age when most of us just think about ourselves, of considering how others feel, and having the grace to express it.

“I won’t forget seeing all the Hampstead students, past and present, who kept a vigil for Pav outside the hospital during the week he was there.

“Lots of love, jokes, gossip, secrets and memories were whispered into his ear by his friends as he lay in that bed.

“He will never be forgotten.”

Daniel Acheampong, Pavidran’s best friend and a former neighbour of the family, said: “There is a gaping hole in all our lives because he was such a presence, I feel like I have lost a brother as well as a friend.”

The coroner ruled that Pavidran died from natural causes.