The first woman ever to win boxing gold – at London 2012 – is vowing to become the first British boxer in nearly a century to successfully defend an Olympic title.
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Rio de Janeiro (AFP) – Olympic flyweight champion Nicola Adams of Britain said she was relieved to get her Rio debut out of the way and escape unscathed after a winning start Tuesday to her defence.
Nicola, from Leeds, nearly slipped through the net when she was injured on the day of trials for the first batch of women boxers to be selected to train for London 2012.
Born in Leeds, she took part in her first bout at the age of 13.
“I just have to focus on what I’m doing in the ring”, she said.
Adams benefited from a bye in the opening round, but was made to work for a quarter-final win over Ukrainian Tetyana Kob as she emerged victorious with scores of 39-37 39-37 and 40-36.
“Once you get that first fight out of the way, you get the ring rust off and get a feel for the ring”.
Yorkshire’s Olympic boxing champ Nicola Adams today vowed to bring home a historic second gold medal and confidently said it would be “another day at the office”. They were hard to miss.
“The doctor asked me to wait and give him one month to get her right”. I’ve been here four weeks and quite anxious to get in there and perform.
“It means everything to me”, added Adams, who finally won the world title earlier this year to complete the set of boxing gongs.
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And it looks even bleaker for Ireland with a series of shock defeats including Taylor’s reversal leaving world champion Michael Conlan as their only representative in the competition.
