"I put in a lot of effort to reach the podium. With Tokyo 2020 being postponed for a year, I had more time to get prepared and I focused on the things I wanted to improve. I am very happy with how I did," Zhu said after the final.

"I'm very, very excited. I am almost at a retiring stage, so this is a great milestone for me. I really focused on my competition here and I am glad it worked out," 26-year-old Liu said. "I have been working really hard for this since the age of six. Winning an Olympic medal has always been my dream and taking the silver is amazing. I am really proud of my performance."

China's 19th gold came in the men's table tennis singles on Friday night, with defending Olympic champion Ma Long beating his compatriot and world No 1 Fan Zhendong 4-2, thus becoming the first men's table tennis player to defend an Olympic singles gold in history.