91Èȱ¬

Nicola Adams became the first British woman to win a major boxing title with victory at the European championships.

England's Adams, who is part of GB Boxing's Olympic squad, beat Sarah Ourahmoune of France 15-8 in the flyweight (51kg) final in Rotterdam.

"I've wanted to be a champion for so long and now I've got my gold medal," the Leeds 28-year-old told 91Èȱ¬ Sport.

There were silver medals for Lynsey Holdaway of Wales and England's Lisa Whiteside in non-Olympic categories.

Holdaway was beaten 13-9 by Russia's Svetlana Gnevanova in the 48kg final, before England's Lisa Whiteside took silver in the 57kg division with a 15-14 loss to Ukraine's Natalia Biriuk.

Whiteside's appearance in the final was only her fourth bout representing England, and she almost grabbed a sensational win as she battled back from 13-10 down after three rounds to lose by a single point.

Holdaway earlier picked up Wales' second medal at a senior major tournament, after welterweight Lauren Price took bronze in the 69kg category on Friday, while Katie Taylor of Ireland won gold with a 10-5 victory against Russia's Sofya Ochigava in the 60kg final.

It was a fifth straight European title for three-time world champion Taylor.

Adams had already beaten Ourahmoune this year on her way to winning the European Union Championships in June, but a repeat looked in doubt when she trailed 2-0 after the first round and 4-3 after the second.

However, the more aggressive Adams took charge in the third and led 9-6 going into the fourth, before controlling a bruising closer.

Adams had been the first English female boxer to win a medal at a major tournament when she won European silver in 2007, and has since collected two silvers at world level, but this was her first taste of gold in a major tournament.

And having not won a European medal since Adams in 2007, England ended the week in Rotterdam with a best-ever haul of four.

"I'm absolutely overwhelmed," Adams told "It's still sinking in, what I've achieved tonight. This gold medal will go towards my ranking points for the (Olympic) qualifiers.

"I said before the tournament I was hoping to get gold. I was determined and would not be denied and I'm bringing this gold back to England. I was down after the first round but, again, I was determined.

"There was no way France was going to win, I wanted it too much.

"This is the most medals England have ever had at a European Championships, so it's great to come back with four medals - couldn't ask for anything better than that really."

Adams' fellow Olympic hopefuls, light-welterweight (64kg) Natasha Jonas and middleweight (75kg) Savannah Marshall, had already won bronze medals following defeats in Friday's semi-finals.

The three Olympic weight categories in women's boxing are flyweight, middleweight and lightweight. Six boxers travelled to Rotterdam representing England and .