China's women's eight crew won a hard-earned bronze medal on the final day of Olympic rowing competition at the Sea Forest Waterway in Tokyo on Friday, equaling their best result at the 1988 Seoul Olympics.

Canada won their first gold in the event since 1992 after crossing the finish line in a time of five minutes and 59.13 seconds, and New Zealand came second in 6:00.04.

China finished third in 6:01.21 overtaking Australians at the closing moments. Team Australia had a good start but could not hold up the momentum.

China had won its second gold medal in the Olympic rowing competition. Earlier this week, Team China won the women's quadruple sculls. Poland and Australia took the silver and bronze medals.

Meanwhile, China's 32-year-old rower Jiang Yan, who finished sixth in the women's quadruple sculls at Rio 2016, saw her hopes of Olympic medal evaporate after again finishing sixth in women's single sculls at the Tokyo Games. 

New Zealand's four-time Olympian Emma Twigg took the gold in 7:13.97, with Russian Olympic Committee's Hanna Prakatsen and Austria's Magdalena Lobnig bagging silver and bronze respectively.