Nicola Adams remains on course for second Olympic flyweight gold after victory over Ren Cancan

Team GB's Nicola Adams has guaranteed herself at least a silver medal in the boxing competition at Rio 2016. The reigning World, Olympic, European and Commonwealth title-holder, who was already certain to claim at least bronze, reached the 51kg women's flyweight showpiece following a unanimous decision victory over China's Ren Cancan in a rematch of the London 2012 final.

Adams secured an emphatic 16-7 win over Ren four years ago to etch her name in history as the first ever female Olympic boxing champion, but started slowly this time and dropped the opening round 3-0.

She responded very quickly indeed to that initial setback, however, immediately setting up on the front foot and utilising her powerful jab to good effect while also inflicting damage with a clever counter.

The Leeds boxer was unanimously given rounds two and three and did well to avoid being tagged by any heavy punches in the final stages of the fight. She eventually had her hand raised after the three judges' cards all recorded scores of 39-37.

"Another gold medal fight and I am excited, I can't wait," Adams, who looked a little rusty in her quarter-final defeat of Ukrainian Tetyana Kob earlier this week, told the BBC. "It is what I have been training for for four years and I am ready to go.

"Four years Is a lot of time to for a boxer to change and strengthen their weaknesses so I just had to go and stick to the tactics. The jab won me the fight, it just paid off. I am always nervous and you need that nervous energy to give you the adrenaline."

Adams, the first British boxer to win two Olympic medals since Scottish lightweight Dick McTaggart followed his 1956 gold with a bronze in Rome, fights in the flyweight final on Saturday night at 6pm BST. She will face Sarah Ourahmoune of France after the 34-year-old overcame Colombia's Ingrid Lorena Valencia at Riocentro via a split decision.