The Japanese women's table tennis team missed out on a second successive trip to the Olympic final after being outlasted 3-2 by Germany at the Rio Games on Sunday.
Four of the five matches went to five games and while the Japanese team received a valiant effort from Kasumi Ishikawa, who won twice, it lost the first and last match as well as the doubles.
Japan, which won silver medal at London 2012, will now play for bronze on Tuesday against China or Singapore.