Ireland’s Taylor, the London 2012 lightweight gold medallist, comfortably beat Sweden’s Agnes Alexiusson 3-0 in the opening bout of today’s evening session to move within two wins of the semi-finals and securing the opportunity to defend her Olympic crown.

This was despite the five-time world champion having to receive attention to a bloody nose after a clash of heads in the second round. 

Taylor is due to continue her attempt to win a record sixth successive lightweight world title on Monday (May 23) when she faces Argentina’s Dayana Sanchez, a unanimous points winner against Nepal’s Saraswati Rana. 

Unlike her Irish counterpart, British flyweight Adams has already qualified for Rio 2016 but isn’t short on incentives as she looks to win her first world title.

The London 2012 gold medallist's unanimous points win over Uzbekistan's Dilnozakhon Odiljonova means she will now meet Azerbaijan’s Anna Alimardanova, winner of a tight battle against the United States’ Virginia Fuchs, for a place in the quarter-finals.

There was disappointment, however, for five-time world champion Kom with the Indian falling to a 2-0 defeat at the hands of Germany’s Azize Nimani.

The 33-year-old had to reach at least the semi-finals to secure her place at Rio 2016 and have the opportunity to add another medal to her bronze from four years ago.

But Nimani, who opened her campaign with a surprise success over Asian Games bronze-medallist Nandintsetseg Myagmardulam of Mongolia, had other ideas and ultimately edged to victory.

"I am extremely happy after today’s bout," said the German.

"Mary Kom is a very strong boxer and a legend in our sport but I was concentrated and focused until the last seconds to accomplish my goal.

"I knew I could win if I followed my instructions and found my rhythm...now I want to be world champion."

In the afternoon’s opening light flyweight bouts, Canadian Kim Klavel dominated Ireland’s Donna Barr and South Korea’s Chorong Bak conjured a stirring fightback against Azerbaijan's Aziza Abbasova.

Bak’s reward is a second-round tie against American top seed Marlen Esparza on Monday, while Klavel will face Romanian third seed Steluta Duta.

Italy’s Valeria Calabrese overcame the powerful Chian-Huei Chin of Chinese Taipei, before Kazakhstan’s defending world champion Nazym Kyzaibay outboxed Poland’s Angelika Gronska.

Fresh from her win at the International Boxing Association (AIBA) American Olympic Qualification Tournament event in Buenos Aires in March, Canadian Mandy Bujold got the flyweight competition up and running with a comfortable win over Yana Burym of Belarus.

France’s Sarah Ourahmoune was in ruthless form as she delivered a first-round TKO against Tunisian Amel Chebbi.

A big win for Chinese Taipei’s Yu-Ting Lin over Bulgarian Stanimira Petrova, and a more straightforward victory for China’s three-time world champion Ren Cancan against Romania’s Lacramioara Perijoc, wrapped up the afternoon session.

To read our live blog from the third day's action click here.