Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh of the US celebrate winning their women's beach volleyball final match against China at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games August 21, 2008. [Xinhua]

Beijing - Defending champions Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh of the United States captured the Beijing Olympic beach volleyball gold medal on Thursday.

The American pair defeated China's Tian Jia and Wang Jie 21-17 and 21-18 in the final. The Chinese duo got the silver medal.

"I'm excited to win the silver medal. We did our best in the match, and I think we played very well. I'm proud to present such a wonderful match in front of the large audience," said Wang.

"I hope beach volleyball will have a faster development in China through our success at the Beijing Games." she added.

Tian Jia and Wang Jie of China comfort each other after losing to American duo Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games August 21, 2008. [Xinhua]

The two sides traded points in the first set to 17-17 before the U.S. duo reap four points in a row to win the first set 21-17.

In the second set, the Americans led at the beginning while the Chinese came from behind and traded points for a tit-for-tat battle. After the visitors reach the match point 20-18, a dink spike by the U.S. duo finished the gold medal match.

"It was such a tough match, their serves were so strong. But we wanted to win and we won the match," said Walsh after the match.