Liu Chunhong in action on Thursday. (AFP)

Athens: Liu Chunhong won the women’s 69 kg gold medal with a world record effort on Thursday as Chinese lifters continued to shine at the Athens Olympics despite new reports of doping gathering around the sport.

The 19-year-old underlined her credentials as the sport’s brightest young talent by crushing the competition with world record lifts of 122.5 kg in the snatch and 153 kg in the clean and jerk for a world record total of 275 kg, giving China its fourth weightlifting gold of the Games.

Eszter Krutzler of Hungary earned the silver with 262.5 kg while Russia’s Zarema Kasaeva took the bronze, also with 262.5 kg but ranking lower because of heavier body weight.

China’s Zhang Jun and Gao Ling retained their Olympic mixed doubles badminton title on Thursday after a classic duel with battling Britons Nathan Robertson and Gail Emms.

The second seeded duo won a knife-edge final 15-1, 12-15, 15-12 to secure the gold at the Goudi Olympic hall. The silver medal was Britain’s best-ever showing in badminton at an Olympics.

After a deceptively one-sided start, with the Chinese romping 9-0 clear in the first game before the Britons could reply, the champions discovered they had a fight on their hands.

Robertson and Emms refused to give up, playing on their opponents’ increasing frustration to put themselves right back into contention and taking the lead for the first time in the third game.

Cheered to the rafters by a flag-waving crowd singing “Rule Britannia”, they then saved two match points before Emms hit a return to the net.

Unseeded Danes Jens Eriksen and Mette Schjoldager won the bronze, beating seventh seeded compatriots Jonas Rasmussen and Rikke Olsen 15-5, 15-5 in an earlier playoff.

Earlier, Zhang Ning helped China shake off its badminton blues, beating Indonesian-born Mia Audina of The Netherlands to clinch the gold. Zhang won 8-11, 11-6, 11-7.

Italy’s Marco Galiazzo won the Olympic gold medal in the men’s individual archery, beating Hiroshi Yamamoto of Japan in the final. In the 12-arrow shootout, Galiazzo fired five bulls-eyes for maximum 10-point scores to take the final 111-109.

In the bronze medal match at the 19th-century Panathinaiko Stadium, birthplace of the modern Games in 1896, 17-year-old Australian school student Tim Cuddihy beat Briton Laurence Godfrey 113-112.

South Korea’s trio of top-class archers crumbled under pressure, all of them bowing out before the semi-final stage.

In basketball, the United States finally showed signs of coming together as a team but still needed a late surge to beat Australia 89-79.

Unbeaten Spain became the first country to clinch a playoff berth with a come from behind 71-63 win over Italy, while a dunk by Sean Marks in the dying seconds powered New Zealand to a 90-87 win over world champions Serbia and Montenegro.

The United States went on a 10-0 run to start the fourth quarter in their victory over Australia. (Reuters)