Serena and Venus - women’s doubles champs

Reigning Wimbledon champions Serena and Venus Williams, the American twin sister combination, defeated French Open champions Anabel Medina Garrigues and Virginia Ruano Pascual of Spain in straight sets - 6-2, 6-0, to secure the gold medal in the women’s doubles event.

China’s Yan Zi and Zheng Jie thrilled the home supporters by defeating Alona Bondarenko and Kateryna Bondarenko of Ukraine 6-2, 6-2 in the women’s doubles bronze medal play-off match.

Yan and Zheng were simply too strong for their opponents as the Chinese duo ran away with the last four games of the first set, converting both of their break point opportunities.

Meanwhile in Olympic wrestling competition, women’s freestyle 63kg category defending champion Icho Kaori of Japan cried today after her older sister, Icho Chiharu, lost in the 48kg final.

A day later, she put on a tremendous performance to retain her title and defend the gold associations with the Icho family and Japanese wrestling.

Icho’s opponent in the final was Russian ‘s Alena Kartashova, another elite wrestler in this weight class. They wrestled a close bout in Athens, which Icho won comfortably.

Icho dominates the world, winning three World Championships in a row. Kartashova is the best in Europe, winning the 2006 and 2008 European Championships and taking home a silver medal at the 2007 European Championships.

China’s Wang Jiao pinned Stanka Zlateva of Bulgaria to the mat to claim gold in the women’s freestyle 72kg category.

Twenty-year-old Wang maneuvered a fantastic fall to close up the bout in 1:59 minutes, winning 8-3.