Taylor, Sutherland and McCarthy advance in Turkey,Germany and Azerbaijan

Reigning World and European lightweight champion Katie Taylor racked up her second win in the space of 24 hours following an emphatic victory over Kurluk Valeviya in the quarter finals of the Ahmet Comet Cup in Turkey last night.

Taylor, from the St Fergal's Bray in Bray, stopped Valeviya from Kazakhstan on the 15 rule (15-0) in round two just 24 hours after putting a halt to Russian Elena Savelevas ambitions on the 15 point rule (22-7).

Twenty year old Taylor, ranked number one in the world, is now guaranteed at least bronze and will go head-to-head with Cindy Orain from France in Saturday's semi-finals in Istanbul.

Meanwhile, Darren Sutherland advanced to the last four of the Chemistry Cup, but Kevin Fenessey and Aodh Carlyle are out of the Senior Multi Nations tournament in Halle Eastern Germany.

Middleweight Sutherland, from the St Saviours club in Dublin, stopped Polish puncher Wajck Leszek on the 20 point rule in round three this afternoon and is also guaranteed at least a bronze medal from today's semi-final.

But Clonmel bantamweight Fenessey bowed out after losing 28-13 to Bulgarian fighter Dalakliev Detelin, and Carlyle, of the Golden Cobra club, was stopped in round four by Mongolian light welterweight Byamba Tuvshinbat.

Baldoyle flyweight Conor Ahern pulled out of the Chemistry Cup squad because of a back injury.

There were also mixed fortunes for the Irish Presidents Cup squad in Azerbaijan today with stylish middleweight Thomas McCarthy stopping Azerbaijani Magsudov Taleh in round two.

However, Ruari Dalton and Tyrone McCullough are out after losing to Dyussembayev Farkhat from Kazakhstan (17-7), and Ahmedov Omar (Russia) 12-2.

Peter Brady and Sean Duffy also exited the Presidents Cup following reversals to Great Britain's Rob Wright (27-8), and Jalolbek Havizov from Uzbekistan (16-6).