Nicola Adams stands one more win away from realising her 17-year-old dream of hanging an Olympic gold medal around her neck after cruising through her flyweight semi-final against India’s five-time world champion Mary Kom.

Adams will fight old foe Ren Cancan of China in today’s final at the ExCeL arena at 4.30pm.

The 29-year-old former Bradford College student, who used to fight for the Bradford Police Boys' Club, boxed superbly to repel the relentless advances of the smaller Kom 11-6.

Afterwards Adams insisted she had no fear of returning to the ring against the Chinese fighter, to whom she has lost in each of the last two world finals.

Adams, who also holds a one-point win over Ren from the Strandja Cup in February this year, said: “I’ve been training for this moment since I was 12 years old and to think it is finally here is just incredible. I am going to treat it like a normal tournament, and hopefully the crowd will give me a boost to edge away and get the gold. I’ve beaten her once before and I’m definitely confident I can go out and do it again.”

It was testament to Adams’ quality that she made a bout against the ferocious Kom look relatively easy. Kom is a legend in the sport but had to step up two weights to reach the Games, and the size difference was the key.

Kom’s assaults were smothered by the elusive Adams, who used her reach to good effect, landing single left and right counters to take a two-point lead at the end of the first round and extend it by a further point at half-way.

A left in round three wobbled Kom, who continued to move forward bravely until the final bell and conceded afterwards: “Nicola is a very good fighter. I’m happy to have won a medal but I thought I should have scored more points.”