Ukraine ended the concluding day of European Games karate action here with two out of six gold medals in kumite contests - but the performance of the final session came from an exciteable Italian, Luca Maresca, who won a dramatically fluctuating men's under-67 kilograms contest against Mario Hodzic of Montenegro.

Britain’s Olympic bronze medallists and Commonwealth champions Chris Langridge and Marcus Ellis upset the odds today as they beat Denmark’s top seeds Anders Skaarp Rasmussen and Kim Astrup, the European champions, to the badminton men’s doubles European Games gold here today.

Spain won three gold medals on the opening day of the karate competition at the European Games here today, with both kata champions of Baku 2015 - Damián Quintero and Sandra Sánchez - retaining their titles, and Laura Palacio Gonzalez adding another title as she beat Meltem Hocaoglu of Turkey 4-1 to win the over-68 kilograms women’s kumite final.

Caster Semenya is set for a return to the International Association of Athletics Federations Diamond League circuit in Stanford, California tomorrow after a Swiss court reportedly extended the suspension of their ruling concerning athletes with differences in sexual development.

It was not quite the perfect ending the host nation had hoped for in the inaugural Dynamic New Athletics final here as they finished just 0.67 seconds behind Ukraine in the final race for gold - but after a stadium that looked close to its 22,246 capacity had been taken on a journey of rising hope as the hosts won five of the eight preceding events it was, broadly speaking, a great result for athletics at the 2nd European Games.

Gymnastics will be on the programme for the 3rd European Games in Kraków and the Małopolska region of Poland.

Hosts Belarus built solidly on their position behind leaders Russia in the overall medals table at the 2nd European Games with a huge run of success on the rainswept, windswept second and final day of the canoe sprint competition, where - under the approving gaze of their President - they added four more golds.

The Netherlands, Russia, Greece and Ukraine won gold medals at the track cycling that is making its European Games debut here.

Russia’s Anzor Khizriev proved too powerful for Georgia’s world under-23 champion Givi Matcharashvili as he won the freestyle 125 kilograms final to earn a third gold for his country on the opening medal day of men’s freestyle wrestling at the European Games here. 

Home pairing Volha Khudzenka and Maryna Litvinchuk sprung a huge surprise in canoe sprint’s women’s K2 500 metres final at the European Games today as they claimed gold against a Hungarian paring laden with gold medal experience.

Russia became the European Games - and European Championship - judo mixed team champions here tonight in the most dramatic of circumstances after coming back from 3-0 down against Portugal to win 4-3 thanks to a sudden-death golden score deciding contest.

Spain’s Antonio Bailon and Fatima Galvez won the 2nd European Games mixed team shotgun trap title at the Sporting Club in Minsk, defeating Italy’s Giovanni Pellielo and London 2012 champion Jessica Rossi.

The home crowd had their wish as Belarus' Maryna Slutskaya rounded off the individual women’s judo competition at the 2nd European Games by winning the over-78 kilograms class final here tonight. 

The first public sighting of "Dynamic New Athletics" - the new format being debuted at the 2nd European Games - proved auspicious here today as it provided more than enough drama, suspense and surprise to keep a decent-sized crowd genuinely engaged through four two-hour mini-matches.