Prokofeva triumphed over four games in the final at the Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium, defeating France’s Lea Ferney 11-4, 8-11, 11-8, 11-5.

This came after she fought from behind in the semi-finals to defeat Hong Kong’s Wong Ting-ting 9-11, 11-5, 11-6, 11-8.

In Group A, Prokofeva won all three matches in straight games, overcoming Poland’s Krystyna Lysiak, Hong Kong’s Ng Mui-wui and Japan’s Maki Ito.

Fifty-year-old Prokofeva is a two-time world and three-time European champion.

Her world titles came in the women’s class 11 team event in the Slovakian capital Bratislava in 2017, and the singles event in Laško in Slovenia a year later.

In 2019, Prokofeva won both the women’s class 11 singles and team events in Helsingborg in Sweden, following up a team success and singles silver in Laško two years earlier.

Prokofeva has an intellectual impairment which sees her compete in class 11 Para table tennis tournaments.

She was born in Dushanbe in March 1971, which at the time was part of the Soviet Union and is now the capital of Tajikistan, and is based in Ufa in Russia.

Prokofeva took up the sport aged nine in 1980, and made her international debut for Russia in 2014.

Her appearance in the Japanese capital was a Paralympics debut, and her philosophy is "never give up."

The Candidate for Master of Sport title is included among her honours.