Nicola Adams began her attempt to become the first double female Olympic champion with an uncertain victory over Ukraine's Tetyana Kob to secure at least a bronze medal and march into the semi-finals at Rio 2016. The inaugural women's champion from London 2012 struggled through the contest but impressed the judges sufficiently to claim the win by a unanimous points decision.

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The 33-year-old was forced to wait until day 11 to begin the defence of her flyweight title, having been given a bye in the opening round, and knew a quarter-final victory would guarantee Great Britain a second medal in an otherwise sobering boxing competition. Adams was looking to join Joshua Buatsi, who was already a confirmed medallist in the light heavyweight class.

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But the World, European, Olympic and Commonwealth champion began slowly against Kob – who had been forced to come through a first round meeting with Stanimira Petrova of Bulgaria. The 28-year-old was far more assured in the opening exchanges, though Adams did use her jab to good effect to sway the scoring judges and take the first two rounds.

Kob did make inroads in round three as she came forward, catching the Leeds-born Adams with a flurry of jabs. The Briton was unperturbed however and remained ahead in the eyes of the judges heading into the fourth and final two-minute round. Kob by this stage needed a knock-out to progress to the last-four but it was not forthcoming as Adams ensured she will end the Games with a medal.

Nicola Adams
Adams came under attack from Kob but edged through to the semi-final Getty Images

"Once you get that first fight out of the way and get the ring rust off, you get a feel for the ring and what it's about," she told BBC Sport. "It's nice to get it out of the way." China's Ren Cancan, who Adams beat in the gold medal fight in London four years ago, is all that stands between her and a second Olympic final, with the pair squaring off on Thursday 18 August.