Gao Ling and Huang Sui saved a match point to win an all-Chinese final in the women’s badminton doubles against Zhang Jiewen and Yang Wei.

The top seeds looked like they would have to settle for silver after they lost the first game and trailed 21-20 in the second.

Zhang and Yang could not take their opportunity and, spurred on by the reprieve, Gao and Huang, who took silver four years ago in Busan, recovered to win 18-21, 23-21, 21-14.

Huang was full of praise for her partner, who had played three doubles matches yesterday to claim mixed doubles gold. She said: “In the second game they came very close, when we were 20-20 there were a few high shots coming through that I thought we were going to miss but Gao kept hitting them back.

“She didn’t give up and that gave me a lot of encouragement.”

Silver medallist Zhang was left to reflect on defeat and said: “I think anyone who doesn’t get the gold in the final will regret it to a degree. There were some chances for us to win but we just didn’t play to the extent of our ability.

“Everyone knows each other, we are all on the same team. Still, I’m not really satisfied.”