McCormack is hoping to go one better than last year when he took the continental silver medal in Samokov in Bulgaria and he made a promising start at the Lokomotyv Sports Palace.

He claimed a comfortable unanimous points victory over Lithuania's Saimonas Banys.

Patrick now joins brother Luke McCormack in the second round after he defeated the current Ukrainian national champion Mger Oganisian on a split decision verdict yesterday.

Patrick will now meet Sweden's Adolphe Sylva for a place in the quarter-finals after he beat Croatia's Marko Zeljko on points today.

There was delight for the host nation in the heavyweight division as Ukraine's Ramazan Muslimov claimed a unanimous points victory over Igor Pawel Jakubowski of Poland.

Slovakia's Erik Tlkanec also progressed after the referee stopped his contest with Slovenian Gregor Skrjanec midway through round two.

Spaniard Jose Quiles Brotons eased through in the bantamweight event with a comprehensive points victory over Robert Eusebiu Jitaru of Romania.

Peter McGrail of England also advanced.

He got the better of Hungarian Nandor Csoka on a unanimous points verdict.

There were only two flyweight contests today with winners from Italy and Russia. 

Manuel Fabrizio Cappai of Italy beat Hungary's Istvan Szaka on a split decision while Tamir Galanov of Russia overcame Siarhei Loban of Belarus on a unanimous verdict.

Competition in Kharkiv is acting as a qualifier for the World Championships, which are due to be held in German city Hamburg from August 25 to September 3.