Badminton events at the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta ended on a glittery note for China, with the country bagging three gold medals. 

The traditional advantage game of China got gold medals in men's doubles, mixed doubles and women's doubles. But the quest for gold does not end here. Now, golden girls of Chinese badminton are eyeing Tokyo 2020. 

2018 Asian Games women's doubles champions Chen Qingchen and Jia Yifan speak with CGTN Sports Scene.

The duo thrashed Japan's Olympic gold medalists Matsutomo Misaki and Takahashi Ayaka in the final match. 

After the victory, overwhelming with emotions, Chen kissed the national flag on the uniform and gave her partner a long hug.  

Jia Yifan told CGTN, "We knew that we will face great difficulties in the final. Actually we did think of getting through to the final. We just focus on each game. In the semi-finals we met with the opponent we have lost to in the final of women's teams. But this time I think we played much better. And in the final we showed our strength, spirit and persistence to win the gold."

"If we just talk about the match technically and tactically, actually our opponent in the final did better than we did. They are Rio Olympic gold medalists. But on the other hand, we kept telling ourselves that we can win. The thought helped us go through the whole match."

The Chinese duo suffered great pressure as they lost to Fukushima Yuki and Hirota Sayaka in women's team final and China lost the match 1-3 in aggregate to clinch the silver medal. Moreover, in man's and women's singles, all Chinese players were ousted in or before the quarter-finals. Women's doubles was a few chances left for China but they have to face top two seeds both from Japan. 

Jia mentioned, "After we lost to Japan in the final of women's team event, we received lots of doubts and criticism from Internet. So I decided to unload all the social apps to block those bad words. And it worked for me because I focused all myself on the matches. And we played better than in the team event. I think what we have to do is to believe ourselves."

Meanwhile, Chen recalled, "When we faced difficulties, Jia and I and our coaches tried to figure out what to do. We faced challenges and managed to deal them. We looked over the taps of our opponents several times to find their weak points. And we fought together on court." 

Having worked together since 2014 when they were teenagers, they have won lots of honors, including BWF world champions and gold medal in Asian Games. The two young girls experienced ups and downs and they tied as one and complement each other.

Jia said, "We are in the same age and Chen is six days elder than I am. She is quiet special. Sometimes she would not talk so much and sometimes very lovely. But I was kind of extroverted. I am optimist and barely I would be affected." 

Chen felt, "She (Jia) is quite optimistic and she makes us happy during training session. She is pistachios. We complement each other on and off court."

Chen and Jia were once at the top of BWF rankings but the Chinese pair has ranked third nowadays, with the top two being both Japanese. But the Chinese defeated the Japanese top two in the semis and finals of women's doubles in the Asian Games in Jakarta.

Jia Yifan clarified, "For us, world rankings are not important. World rank is actually such that when you are in good form, your ranking might be higher. And if you are injured or off your shape, the ranking would be lower. But top 10 and even top 20 have their special skills that are not neglected through rankings. We are now ranked third in the world but we still beat top two pairs in the semis and finals (in Jakarta)."

Chen said she is "more realistic" over the world rankings. "I prefer winning big events titles, such as Asian Games, world championship and Olympic Games," she said.

2020 Tokyo Olympics would be a great challenge for China in badminton as Japan have greatly improved in the sport, especially in men's singles and women's doubles. While China are struggling hard, with their previous advantage seen vanishing. 

Chen Qingchen sounded upbeat on their Olympic prospects in 2020 Tokyo. "We are eager to participate in the Olympic Games in Tokyo," she added.

However, Jia sounded cautious yet confident. She said, "But you know that competitive sports is crucial. We cannot foresee the future. We have to see next year if we can earn enough scores to qualify for Tokyo. Of course this is our dream, and we will try our best to fulfill the dream. If we would compete in Tokyo we still have other challenges as we all know that Japan has an advantage on badminton especially women’s doubles. It would be very difficult for us. And it would be a great pressure for them as they are the host and have to fight for a good result in front of home crowd."

Chen summed up before signing off, "We are in the same thought. We will focus on training and earning more scores to qualify for the Olympics. And we can compete in Tokyo. We would go step by step and try to get a good result."