SAVANNAH MARSHALL booked her place at this summer’s Olympic Games as she made it through to the semi-finals of the Women’s World Boxing Championships in Kazakhstan.

Marshall, who is from Hartlepool, beat China’s Qian Li to claim one of the four Rio qualification places on offer at the World Championships in the middleweight category.

The 25-year-old will join flyweight Nicola Adams as Team GB’s only female boxing representatives in Rio, with Britain having failed to qualify a woman fighter at lightweight after Chantelle Cameron lost out in the second round at the Worlds.

Marshall’s only previous appearance at the Olympics ended in disappointment when she suffered a first-round defeat at London 2012, and she will be determined to live up to her billing when she competes in Rio.

Having claimed a gold medal at the 2014 Commonwealth Games, she will head to the Olympics as one of British boxing’s strongest podium prospects.

Her immediate focus is on Thursday’s World Championships semi-final, and having guaranteed herself a medal with today’s victory over Li, she is on track to emulate her performance in 2012 when she became the first, and so far only, British woman to lift a world title.

She started strongly in her quarter-final, landing a series of shots that saw two of the three judges award her the first round against Li.

The Headland ABC fighter seized complete control of the contest in round two, and also dominated rounds three and four to claim a unanimous points win. Two judges awarded Marshall a 40-36 success, with the other scoring the fight 39-37.

She is guaranteed a bronze medal, but will be hoping to book a place in the final when she meets Nouchka Fontijn from the Netherlands in the last four.

“I’d like to thank all of my team, my team-mates, my coach Tim Coulter, Sky and my family and friends for all of their hard work in supporting and believing in me,” said Marshall. “I’m really happy and grateful to be given another chance to compete at the Olympic Games.”