Misaki Matsutomo and Ayaka Takahashi claimed Japan's first-ever Olympic badminton gold medal after beating Denmark's Christinna Pedersen and Kamilla Rytter Juhl 2-1 in Thursday's women's doubles final at the Rio Games.
World No. 1-ranked pair Matsutomo and Takahashi dropped the opening game 18-21 before storming back to take the second 21-9 at Riocentro Pavilion 4, setting up a tense finale that saw the world No. 6 Danish pair move two points away from the gold medal at 19-16.
But Matsutomo and Takahashi, who have played together since they were schoolmates 10 years ago, claimed the next five straight points to overtake their opponents and win the final game 21-19, sealing the victory when Pedersen dumped a shot into the net.