David, who took singles gold medals at Bangkok 1998, Doha 2006 and Guangzhou 2010, in addition to silver at Busan 2002, was always favoured to add a fifth title to crown a summer in which she has also triumphed at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.

Although she was given a stern examination by her compatriot, seventh-ranked Wee Wern Low, the 31-year-old settled into a groove after losing the first game 11-8, taking the next three 11-6, 11-5, 12-10 as her greater consistency and experience proved too much.

At first, the men's final seemed to be following a similar path, with Abdullah battling hard but unable to overcome favoured Indian opponent Saurav Ghosal, 16th in the world and a bronze medal winner at Guangzhou 2010, before the tide began to turn.

Reaping the rewards for bravely going for his shots, the Kuwaiti recovered from match-point down to win a thrilling third game before eventually triumphing, 10-12, 2-11, 14-12, 11-8, 11-9

"It was a tough match for me," said 26-year-old Abdullah.

"When I was down to two love, I said to my coach that I'm done.

"But during the third game, I did not give up and I wanted to get that chance to come back to the game."

If the squash had the best storyline, for sheer drama, intensity and sporting calibre, a pulsating men's badminton team final topped the bill on day four.

South Korea won a pulsating team final in badminton in front of a packed arena
©AFP/Getty Images



South Korea, boosted by a shock opening victory for Son Wan-ho over world number two Chen Long, roared into a 2-0 lead, only for China to hit back with two victories courtesy of two London 2012 Olympic champions, Lin Dan in the singles, and Cai Yun and Fu Haifeng in the doubles.

It all came down to two of the less heralded players for each team in the singles decider, and it was Lee Hyunil who held his nerve to defeat Gao Huan in two straight sets for gold to seal a memorable victory for the host nation. 

Elsewhere, it was another superb day for China, with Sun Yang making amends for his 200 metres freestyle defeat by winning over his more favoured 400 metres distance against fierce rivals Kosuke Hagino of Japan and Park Tae Hwan of South Korea.

Six of the seven events in the pool were won by the Chinese, with other winners including London 2012 Olympic champion Ye Shiwen in the women's 400m individual medley and Ning Zetao, who shocked Japan's Asian record holder Shinri Shioura in the 50m freestyle.

Dmitriy Balandin won the one that got away, with the 19-year-old from Kazakhstan triumphing in the 200m breaststroke.

Dmitriy Balandin of Kazakhstan was the only non-Chinese swimming winner of day four ©Getty Images



Teenage prodigy Yang Haoran, who in the last month has won Youth Olympic, World Championship and Asian Games titles, earned two of three Chinese gold medals in shooting, in the individual and team 10m air rifle events.

Two more titles were won for China in wushu and one each in synchronised swimming and weightlifting.