The London 2012 gold medallist lost her lightweight encounter against Azerbaijan’s Yana Alekseevna, ending a run of 62-straight victories that stretched back to a multi-nation tournament in Bulgaria in 2011.

Taylor appeared to have done the better work in the final round but Alekseevna, beaten by her opponent in both of their two previous meetings, was given the verdict by two judges to complete a 39-37 win on all three cards.

The 29-year-old Irishwoman will now have to regroup for the defence of her world title next month in Kazakhstan’s capital Astana, where a place in the semi-finals will be enough to give her the opportunity to defend her Olympic crown in Rio de Janeiro.

"I've had losses before and come back from them and I'll come back again," Taylor, a five-time world champion, said. 

"Thank god, I've got another chance to qualify at the World Championships."

There was no such trouble for Olympic flyweight champion Nicola Adams as she secured Britain's first boxing place at Rio 2016 with a unanimous-decision victory over Norway’s Marielle Hansen.

It gives the 33-year-old the opportunity to become the first British boxer to win two Olympic titles since middleweight Harry Mallin completed the feat at Paris 1924, having won four years earlier in Antwerp. 

Adams was one of eight British boxers to earn a Rio 2016 berth today with seven male fighters also qualifying.

Securing their places were light flyweight Galal Yafai, bantamweight Qais Ashfaq, flyweight Muhammad Ali, lightweight Joe Cordina, light heavyweight Josh Buatsi, heavyweight Lawrence Okolie and super heavyweight Joe Joyce.

Yafai beat Spain's Samuel Carmona Heredia, while Ashfaq saw off Ukraine's Mykola Butsenko, Ali overcame Bulgaria’s Daniel Asenov, and Cordina defeated Ireland's David Joyce.

Buatsi, Okolie and Joyce got the better of Ukraine's Oleksandr Khyzhniak, Azerbaijan's Abdulkadir Abdullayev and Hungary's Istvan Bernath respectively.

Middleweight Anthony Fowler lost his semi-final against France’s Christian Mbilli Assomo, but he could still make it nine British qualifiers if he wins the bronze medal bout tomorrow.

Male boxers have two more opportunities to qualify for this summer's Olympics; one at next month's World Series of Boxing event in Bulgaria and the other at the final Olympic qualifying event in Azerbaijan in June.

As many as 36 qualification spots for Rio 2016 are on the line in the Turkish city, where a total of 217 men and 57 women, representing 38 European countries, are competing.

There are 10 weight categories for men, ranging from light flyweight up to super heavyweight, with the two finalists from each division receiving a Rio 2016 quota spot and the two losing semi-finalists taking part in a box-off for the third and final qualification place.

The women are competing in three weight categories, flyweight, lightweight and middleweight, with the two finalists in each class winning a Rio 2016 quota.