Japan's Arisa Higashino and Yuta Watanabe win bronze in mixed doubles badminton

Yuta Watanabe and Arisa Higashino gave Japan its first ever badminton mixed doubles Olympic medal on Friday, when they captured the bronze in the third-place playoff at the Tokyo Games.

Watanabe and Higashino secured a spot on the podium by defeating Hong Kong pair Tang Chun-man and Tse Ying-suet 21-17, 23-21 at Musashino Forest Sport Plaza.

"At the end it came down to who was the most determined to win," said the 24-year-old Watanabe, who also became the first Japanese man to win an Olympic badminton medal.

"We lost yesterday (in the semifinals) but took time to reflect and were able to turn it around. There is a huge difference between winning and not winning a medal and we are proud to have won a medal on this big stage at the Tokyo Olympics."

Higashino, 24, who also partnered Watanabe to the bronze medal at the 2019 World Championships in Basel, Switzerland, said, "I am so happy. We have both had a lot of tough experiences and there were times when we weren't winning."

"The three of us including (Watanabe's men's doubles partner Hiroyuki) Endo have really made a big effort and this medal is for the three of us."

In women's singles, Nozomi Okuhara came up short in her bid to improve on the Rio Olympic bronze medal she won five years ago, losing 13-21, 21-13, 21-14 to China's He Bingjiao in the quarterfinals.

"There have been highs and lows over the last five years and I am happy that I have had a lot of support from people throughout," said Okuhara.

"I wanted to give them something back through badminton and although I could not do that with results, I hope they felt how hard I was trying until the end," said the 26-year-old former world champion.

"The Olympics is a difficult event to enjoy but I am so happy that I was able to stand here on this stage."