Nicola Adams leads Team GB boxers' charge to Rio Olympics

Nicola Adams led a stunning day of success for Great Britain's boxers at the Olympic qualifier in Turkey as eight of them booked their places at this summer's Games in Rio.

Adams set her sights on becoming a double Olympic champion after outpointing Norwegian Marielle Hansen in the women's flyweight division she dominated to claim gold at London 2012.

GB team-mates Galal Yafai, Qais Ashfaq, Muhammad Ali, Joe Cordina, Josh Buatsi, Lawrence Okolie and Joe Joyce all followed suit to confirm their respective places in Brazil with wins.

Adams will become only the second British boxer - and the first since middleweight Harry Mallin in 1924 - to retain her Olympic title if she goes all the way once again in Brazil.

The 33-year-old Leeds bantamweight said: "It feels really good to know that I will be defending my title in Rio.

"It is no longer the Road to Rio, I am going to Rio. I've qualified and I am ready to defend my title and hopefully become a double Olympic champion.

"Through this tournament, I feel like I've boxed really well and I've gone from strength to strength. I have not taken anyone lightly and have treated every competition as a final.

"Every time I get in the ring, I have to give 110 per cent because my opponents have nothing to lose and everything to gain. I have to make sure I go in there with my A-game and come away with the victory."

There was a shock for Ireland's reigning Olympic lightweight champion Katie Taylor who suffered her first loss in almost five years to accomplished Azerbaijani Yana Alekseevna.

Taylor will get one more chance to reach the Olympics at the World Championships in Kazakhstan next month.

Heavyweight Okolie pulled off arguably the performance of the day to outpoint Azerbaijan's world number three Abdulkadir Abdullayev.

In turn, the 23-year-old reached the Olympics less than six months after joining the elite Great Britain squad.

Yafai finds himself on a similar trajectory, booking a light-flyweight berth with a win over Spain's Samuel Carmona Heredia to emulate his older brother Kal, who went to the Beijing Olympics in 2008.

He only started boxing seriously at the age of 18 and until December last year was still working part time in a factory.

Bantamweight Ashfaq survived a bloody last round to beat Ukraine's Mykola Butsenko while flyweight Muhammad Ali set a furious pace en route to outpointing Bulgaria's Daniel Asenov.

Reigning European champion Cordina squeezed past Ireland's David Oliver Joyce in a quality lightweight bout before Buatsi overcame another Ukrainian, Oleksandr Khyzhniak.

After Okolie's incredible win, super-heavyweight Joe Joyce rounded things off with the day's only stoppage, outclassing Hungary's Istvan Bernath and forcing three standing counts in the final round.

Anthony Fowler will bid to become the ninth British fighter to reach Rio when he boxes in a bronze-medal match on Saturday.

That's after the Liverpool middleweight lost his semi-final on Friday to Christian Mbilli Assomo of France.

Both David Oliver Joyce and flyweight Brendan Irvine will also get a second chance over the weekend to book further Olympic places for Ireland.