Josh Buatsi frustrated despite bagging boxing bronze at Rio 2016

The 23-year-old Londoner dropped a unanimous decision to Kazakhstan's Adilbek Niyazymbetov in their light-heavyweight semi-final, bringing an end to his impressive run through the tournament.

But in better news for the Great Britain squad on Tuesday, wins for Nicola Adams and Joe Joyce guaranteed they will leave the Games having hit their UK Sport target of at least three medals.

Indeed, Buatsi's bronze took Britain to 48 medals in Rio - setting a new record for an overseas Games.

Buatsi had arrived at the Olympics as a relative notice but three straight wins - including a stunning stoppage of Uzbek veteran Elshod Rasulov - raised hopes he could continue his trajectory all the way to gold.

But Buatsi was frequently frustrated by his opponent's spoiling tactics and after losing a tight first, in which he might have hoped his sharper left hands had caught the judges' eyes, he was presented with a near-impossible task.

Buatsi said: "A bronze medal surpasses all expectations but once I got here and was winning I was aiming for gold and nothing else.

"I was frustrated and I showed it and I shouldn't have done that. I know I am a very good fighter and this experience is only going to add to what I have already."

Buatsi's surprise success has come against a backdrop of relative struggle for the Great Britain team with a number of their medal chances suffering hard draws and going out early. But both Adams and Joyce will join him on the podium and there are hopes Savannah Marshall could make it four when she meets old foe Nouchka Fontijn in their women's middleweight bout on Wednesday.

Joyce cut down 6ft 4ins Uzbek Bakhodir Jalolov in their super-heavyweight last eight clash with a composed and powerful performance and admitted he had been keen to leave nothing to chance.

Joyce said: "I was looking for the knockout but when that didn't happen I wanted to win the fight clearly and make sure the judges were going to go my way and that's what I managed to do. It means a lot to me to win an Olympic medal and whatever happens it is obviously better than nothing. But now I'm here the only thing I am focusing on is going all the way to gold."

Earlier, Nicola Adams became the first British boxer to win two Olympic medals in 56 years when she beat Tetyana Kob to advance to the semi-finals of the women's flyweight division.

The 33-year-old from Leeds admitted she struggled to shake off the ring-rust but eventually out-worked her Ukrainian opponent, who had impressed in defeating previous Adams foe Stanimira Petrova in the previous round.

Victory ensured a second consecutive medal for Adams, the first British boxer to achieve the feat since Scotsman Dick McTaggart claimed gold and bronze in 1956 and 1960 respectively.

Adams said: "She was a tough opponent who didn't stop coming forward and she was aggressive and quite strong. I just had to get through. I felt a little bit of the ring-rust but I've got the first fight out of the way and it'll be different next time I fight in the semi-finals.

"It (another medal) means everything for me because I came here to win another medal, but I always want the gold."

Adams will face China's Ren Cancan in the semi-finals, the same opponent she out-boxed and floored on her way to winning the London 2012 final four years ago.