Olympics boxing: Ireland's Katie Taylor eases into lightweight final

Ireland's Katie Taylor has qualified for the women's Olympic lightweight final as a result of a comfortable points victory in her semi-final.

Taylor, 26, clinched a 17-9 win over gutsy Mavzuna Chorieva of Tajikistan to progress to Thursday's final in London.

Gold medal favourite Taylor, from Bray, Co Wicklow, was not at her best against the counterpunching 19-year-old.

But she was judged to have won each of the four rounds to set up a gold-medal bout against Russia's Sofia Ochigava.

World number two Ochigava beat Brazil's Adriano Arajuo 17-11 in Wednesday's second semi-final.

Once again, there was a huge Irish contingent in the ExCel Arena and Taylor described the atmosphere as "incredible".

"It's a dream come true for me to be boxing in the Olympics and with 10,000 Irish people here, it's better than I even thought it could be," added the Irish woman.

"Now that I'm in the final boxing for a gold medal, I feel like I'm in heaven right now. It's amazing."

Taylor insisted that the final against Ochigava "is going to be a 50/50 fight".

"The pressure is going to be on both boxers. We're both boxing for a gold medal.

"I have to get back and refocus for tomorrow. I'd love to bring back a gold medal to my country."