Great Britain hockey player Susannah Townsend has postponed her retirement in a bid to play at the delayed Tokyo Olympics.

Townsend had previously planned to retire in August after the Games but, as they have been pushed back a year, she has had a re-think.

She told BBC Radio Kent: "The past few months have been a bit of a rollercoaster. At the beginning we didn't know if the Olympics was going to be cancelled or postponed or quite what was going to happen.

"When you're waiting to find out you train hard, you're optimistic but also a realist - you know it's probably not going to happen. 

"I'd always said I was definitely going to retire in August, but my plan now is to retire after the Olympics next summer. I feel like this delay has almost given me a chance to be a better player."

Townsend won a gold medal at the 2016 Rio Olympics and she believes, while Team GB were ready for the Olympics this summer, the squad will now win gold again.

"I feel as a squad we'd have done well at an Olympics this summer, but more time is probably a benefit to us.

“I wouldn't have continued if I didn't think we could go and win another gold medal. This year might have been pushing it a little bit but I think next summer, with all that extra time, we'll be ready.”