Doubles, Women

As in the men’s event, the defending Olympic champions, Misaki Matsutomo and Ayaka Takahashi of Japan, did not compete in Tokyo; of all the Rio medallists, only third-place finisher Sin Seung-Chan of South Korea returned, with new partner Lee So-Hui. Nonetheless, Japan entered as the favorites, as they had the top-seeded duo of Yuki Fukushima and Sayaka Hirota, who had been runners-up at the last three editions of the World Championships, and the third-seeded Mayu Matsumoto and Wakana Nagahara, who were the reigning world champions two years running. In-between was number two ranked Chen Qingchen and Jia Yifan of China, the reigning Asian champions and 2017 world champions.

As with the other events, the group stage went as expected, but led to Chen and Jia facing Fukushima and Hirota in the quarterfinals, which the former won. With the surprising defeat of Matsumoto and Nagahara at the hands of South Koreans Kim So-Yeong and Gong Hui-Yong, the 2018 Asian bronze medallists, the hometown favorites saw their podium hopes dashed. The South Koreans faced China in the semi-final, with China emerging victorious, leaving the latter to face the unseeded Indonesians Greysia Polii and Apriyani Rahayu in the final. Polii had a lengthy history in the sport, having competed at the last two editions of the Olympics, while Rahayu was making her Olympic début in Tokyo. They had been bronze medallists at the last two editions of the World Championships, but pulled off an upset by defeating Chen and Jia in two sets to capture the gold medal. Kim and Gong, meanwhile, claimed the final podium spot by defeating their compatriots Sin and Lee in the bronze medal match.