The 41-year-old had been the top spiker to help China retain their title at Beijing 2008 against the same opponents and was again the star of the show with a total of 38 points in the final - including 29 spikes - to help the world champions win the gold medal once again.

Three-time Paralympic champion Sheng, who ended the tournament with 108 spikes and a total of 141 points as the top scorer at London 2012, outshone the USA’s Kathryn Holloway, who ended the match with 33 points.

Holloway had earlier helped her side make a superb start as the USA took the first set 25-22 before moving 10-9 ahead in set two, only to suffer a dip in form to allow China to win 16 of the next 21 points to take the set 25-15.

An incredible third set turned into the Sheng versus Holloway show. Both players were classy as they swapped points before a highly-dramatic climax.

China lost five set points and USA three as both sides halted each other's attempts at winning the set, but at the sixth time of asking China finally took an exhilarating 32-minute set with the score at 32-30.

The defending champions soon took command of the fourth set, as they established a 19-10 lead that set them on the road to victory (25-15).

After once again inflicting defeat on the side they had also beaten when winning the 2010 World Championships, China remain the only nation to have ever won the women’s Sitting Volleyball title since the sport first made its debut at the Paralympic Games at Athens 2004.

Ukraine’s women’s team took the bronze medal after beating the Netherlands 3-0 (25-14, 25-21, 25-16) after the world number three side produced a powerful display.

Larysa Ponomarenko dominated at the net - as she so often has in the tournament - and Valentyna Brik was the match's top scorer with 13 points.

‘We are very happy with today's result. We have won against the Netherlands three times in a row now, and we're just happy that today everything worked out in our game and we had no flaws,’ said Ukraine’s Anzhelika Churkina.