The Japanese women's side have proved a tough team to score against during the London 2012 competition and even a China side who had scored 37 goals coming into the final were unable to break their stubborn resistance.

After winning 1-0 courtesy of Akiko Adachi's goal, Japan coach Naoki Eguro said: ‘We have been practising to compete against China in the final, so our dream came true and we got the gold medal, which is great.

‘Strong defence is our characteristic, so we made sure to reduce the mistakes we made and then to quickly go on the offence.’

China’s Wang Ruixue added: ‘Nothing really went wrong. Japan's defence was just too good. It's a pity that we lost. But it has been a good experience for us. Japan's defence is really good.’

Sofia Naesstrom marked her last game before retirement by scoring twice to help Sweden claim bronze in the women’s competition after a 5-1 win over Finland.

The 33-year-old missed the decisive penalty in sudden-death extra throws against Japan in the semi-finals, but bounced back in style to help Sweden win their first Goalball medal for 12 years.

Naesstrom said: ‘It was hard. I was not happy with my performance yesterday (against Japan), but I am very happy today. I did not feel tired, and I felt we focused very well. I think this is my last game. But it's a good way to finish.’

Finland completed a remarkable turnaround in the men’s competition by winning gold in the final with a resounding 8-1 victory over Brazil.

European champions Finland looked to be heading home early from the tournament after losing their first three group games, but they improved with each match to make the final - where they produced their finest display when it mattered most.

Petri Posio scored four, Jarno Mattila a hat-trick and vocal centre Erkki Miinala claimed one in a match where Brazil looked over-awed by the occasion and trailed 6-0 at half-time to a team they had beaten 6-5 in their opening group game of the event.

Mattila said: ‘It's a great, great feeling. We did a good job. It was a difficult start [to the tournament] but we got stronger and stronger as time went on. Coming out tonight, we knew that we could beat Brazil and we did.’

In the men’s bronze-medal match, meanwhile, Turkey out-gunned world champions Lithuania 4-1 to win their first-ever Goalball medal at the Paralympic Games.

Four goals from 22-year-old Tuncay Karakaya, which took his tournament tally to 19, was enough to beat a Lithuanian side whose only reply came from Marius Zibolis as Turkey’s stubborn defence prevented them repeating their free-scoring form from earlier in the competition.

Turkey’s Tekin Okan Duzgun said: ‘Lithuania are the best shooters in the world, but we have the best defence. We only let in 10 goals in the whole tournament - a new Paralympic record.’