Tin-Tin Ho believes inconsistency cost her as she missed out on securing a Tokyo Olympics place via the European qualifying tournament in Portugal.

The Paddington athlete made a good start to the tournament, defeating Ana Tofant of Slovenia 4-0 (13-11, 11-4, 11-2, 11-7), but her next group match was a 4-2 (11-6, 11-13, 6-11, 11-6, 11-3, 11-9) defeat to Sabina Surjan of Serbia.

Ho, ranked No 94 in the world, was seeded to make it out of the group and into the knockout stage, but she came up against an inspired opponent in her final match as she was defeated 4-0 (11-5, 11-4, 11-6, 18-16) by Polina Trifonova of Bulgaria.

Ho saved four match points against an opponent ranked No 408, but who belied that ranking with a string of impressive performances and ultimately earned a spot as the first reserve for the Olympics.

Ho, 22, said: “As you’d expect, I’m disappointed with the result and my performance.

“I wasn’t that surprised by her performance. I didn’t consider her ranking as I knew she is a good and solid player.

“I think if I performed a bit more consistently myself, I would have given myself more of a chance. She also caused me to make mistakes and I didn’t adapt well to her game.”

Ho will now return to her medical studies at the University of Nottingham, and her next long-term goal will be the Commonwealth Games next year.

She added: “In terms of qualifying for the Olympics, there’s nothing I can do now, so I’ll try to look forward, improve and keep learning.”