The Chinese were forced to battle all the way to claim victory as their team of Yao Fang, Wu Baili and Rong Jing had to dig deep against some determined opponents.

In the quarter-finals, Yulia Efimova put in a huge effort early on to go 10-2 up against Yao but China then won seven of the next eight bouts to beat Russia 45-38 to set up a semi-final with a strong Hong Kong team, which had overpowered Great Britain 45-26.

In a close encounter, Hong Kong led 35-34 with two bouts remaining but both Ring and Wu scored narrow victories to help China to a 45-42 success and the chance to battle it out for gold.

In the other half of the draw, Zsuzsanna Krajnyak produced a strong performance to help Hungary edge out France 45-41 in their quarter-final clash to set up a semi-final with Poland, who had seen off Ukraine 45-28.

The last-four battle then went down to the wire after the scores were locked at 33-33 after seven of the nine bouts, but Krajnyak’s 5-1 victory in the last match ensured Hungary ran out 45-40 winners.

In the final against China, Krajnyak won the second bout by a nine-hit margin to put Hungary 10-2 ahead, but Wu immediately responded to win the next encounter 13-3 and from there the Chinese never relinquished the lead as they recorded a 45-38 triumph to clinch gold.

For Yao, it was her second gold medal of the Games, after winning the women’s Individual Foil - Category B, while Wu now has a complete set of gold, silver and bronze medals from London 2012.

The bronze medal went to Hong Kong after they recorded a comfortable 45-26 victory over Poland.