Italy win women's team foil fencing gold

Italy have won a gold medal in women's team foil fencing, comprehensively beating Russia 45-31 in the final.

The Italians came out aggressively, with Valentina Vezzali beating Inna Deriglazova 5-2 in the opening bout.

Arianna Errigo followed this up with a quickfire 5-3 success over Larisa Korobeynikova before Olympic champion Elisa di Francisca dominated Aida Shanaeva 5-1.

Italy continued their dominance when Errigo beat Deriglazova 5-2, followed by Vezzali beating Shanaeva 5-3. Di Francisca then showed exactly why she was the world's best with yet another 5-1 in, this time over Korobeynikova.

Substitute Ilaria Salvatori came in for Italy, but couldn't quite produce the same level of performance as her compatriots, losing 9-5. Normal service was resumed as Di Francisca beat Deriglazova 5-3 in the penultimate bout.

Vezzali saw the contest out, despite losing 7-5 Korobeynikova in the last bout to give Italy the 45-31 victory.