Russia finish on high as Universiade comes to an end

Luginets secured victory in the men’s 50m rifle three positions with a score of 457.5 points to see off competition from Hongwei Kang from China, who had to settle for silver with 449.7.

Tomasz Bartnik from Poland took bronze (441.6) as the last set of medals of the Universiade were handed out.

Luginets's gold meant Russia ended their campaign far and away at the top of the medal table after collecting an incredible 155 gold, 75 silver and 62 bronze medals. Their nearest rivals were China (26 golds) and Japan (24).

Earlier in the day, hosts Russia also took gold in the men's rugby sevens final, beating France 29-19.

The Russians scored three tries in the first half - two for Ramil Gaysin and one for Denis Simplikevich - to take a 17-5 lead into the half-time break.

After the restart further tries from Ilya Babaev and Eduard Filatov helped Russia stave off the French challenge and secure victory.

In the men's bronze medal match, Britain beat South Africa 31-14.

Russia's women had earlier showed their male counterparts the way by earlier taking rugby sevens gold with victory over Italy. Canada's women hammered Britain 36-0 to secure bronze.

In the pool, US swimmer Ashley Twichell came out of the women’s open water 10km final on top, finishing in a time of 2h 5min 0.9sec.

The American put in a dominant performance, finishing 31 seconds ahead of her nearest rival Aurora Ponsele of Italy. Croatia's Karla Sitic took bronze with the time of 2h 5min 3.1 sec.

In the men's 10 km open water final, Italy's Matteo Furlan won gold, covering the distance in 1 hour 56 minutes and 12.4 seconds.

The men's race was altogether closer than the women's, with Furlan touching home just two seconds ahead of silver medallist Romain Beraud of France. German Andreas Waschburger took bronze.

Russia's men's basketball team claimed gold with an 81-74 victory over Australia in the final, although captain Semen Antonov admitted it had been a tough game, even going as far as to say the referees had made things more difficult for his side.

"We quickly took a big lead of 15 points but this was almost lost and the Australians nearly broke even," Antonov said.

"But we managed to play through, despite the fact that the referees were causing trouble by calling fouls only for our team. One referee was from Canada, and maybe he was upset about yesterday’s defeat (Russia beat Canada in the semi-final).

"But we stood our ground and every player did his best."

For Antonov, who won bronze at the 2012 Olympics, the importance of this victory was not lost.

“I dedicate this victory to all our fans, my family, wife and friends in Nizhnevartovsk and Nizhny Novgorod. And also to all of those who were against us. Let them envy us. It only makes us stronger.”

The Russian women's water polo team beat Hungary 18-11 to win gold, while their male counterparts dropped to defeat in the corresponding final, losing 5-4 in another match against Hungary. Serbia beat Italy to claim bronze.