“The last moment, I could not figure out what had happened,” Soo said. “I never thought I could win and beat the two Germans. I lost to them by big margins before and never won. I just wanted to play point by point, and be very committed in the matches and enjoy it. Unbelievable.”

It was Soo’s second singles win of the morning, having earlier dispatched Han Ying to bring Hong Kong level at 1-1.

“I always believe in my teammates,” she added. “I tried to give my best fight as the underdog from the beginning, and we had nothing to fear at this stage. No burden. Even if I lost, I would still have had my teammates to ease the pressure on me.”

Head coach of the women’s team Li Ching, who was part of the silver medal-winning team in Greece, admitted he did not expect Soo – who had so far only played doubles in this team tournament – to be the match-winning heroine, either.

“After losing to Japan [3-0 in the semi-finals], we never gave up and worked for the common goal to beat the Germans,” he said. “Soo was very brave today and played outside the box. She had never beaten the two Germans before, but this is the Olympics and anything can happen.

“Our game plan was to win the first two matches, the doubles and other one from Doo [Hoi-kem]. But I never expected Soo to be the player to make the difference. She proved she has the ability and her previous defeat was mainly a mental problem.

“What has changed for the players is their self-control and their emotions. They have also mentally matured.”

Germany won silver in Rio five years ago and brought an unchanged line-up to Tokyo of Shan, Han and Petrissa Solja.

Li had shaken up his line-up from the previous wins over Brazil and Romania, and the loss to Japan, starting off with Doo and Lee Ho-ching in the doubles.

The move did not pay off, as Hong Kong’s world No 9 pair were beaten by Shan and Solja, the 16th-ranked duo.

It started well enough, with Hong Kong winning the opening game but the Germans won the next three to take the match.

Up stepped Soo, the world No 30 singles player, to take on the frustrating figure of Han, Germany’s veteran chopper. She dealt with her opponent 3-1 to get Hong Kong level before Doo – the talismanic leader of the team’s run to this point in Tokyo – swatted Solja aside 3-0.

“Coach Zhang Rui knew I wanted to win a team medal, but she said not just a medal – I want to see you improve match by match,” Doo said.

“She said we won’t have too many chances like this, and even if you are a better team in the next Olympics, you may not have the same chance in a medal match. She gave us strong mental words to encourage us.”

Soo then stepped up to the table once more, knowing a win would secure bronze.

She had not played a singles match in Hong Kong’s run to the bronze medal showdown, but made no mistake against Shan, following Doo in winning 3-0 and making history for Hong Kong.

“I have to play as decided by the coach, regardless of if it is singles or doubles,” Soo said. “I just play point by point to win. At this stage, there was no more fear.

“We have won matches and also lost matches. As coach Zhang said, this would be the most important match. I thank her for making me so successful today.”