Kate Richardson-Walsh struggled to hold back the tears after Team GB crashed out of the Olympic men's hockey tournament in dramatic fashion.

Team GB failed to break an Indian side playing a man down for most of the contest, with the quarter-final ultimately decided by virtue of a penalty shoot-out.

India, the underdogs, netted four of their penalties, while Team GB managed just two.

During the post-match aftermath, former hockey star Richardson-Walsh told the BBC: "I'm absolutely devastated... India down to 10 men for most of that game and they perform outstandingly."

While full of praise for the Indian defence, Richardson-Walsh struggled to contain her emotion when reflecting on Team GB's premature exit: "I think they'll [the team] will need to do some grieving and I think this is going to be hard.

"But also there needs to be a bit of perspective. Really considering where they've come from and where they've got to.

"Of course there are some hard lessons to learn, but they are absolutely on the right path and on the right journey... I don't think we can take too much out of that [the result], I think we have to look at their overall performance and where Paul Revington has taken this team."

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Richardson-Walsh boasts two Olympic medals to her name, having won bronze at the London 2012 Games, before topping the podium with her hockey team-mates four years later in Rio.

But it wasn't all celebratory success for the former Great Britain skipper, with Richardson-Walsh resonating with the pain being felt by the defeated Team GB players.

She continued: "I've been there. I know what the players have put into this, what the staff have put into it. All the friends and family that are here supporting them. I'm one of them.

"We so very desperately wanted them to have an opportunity to go out and deliver what we know they can deliver. This team is absolutely capable of being Olympic medalists, I have no doubt about that.

"But now we're going to have to wait and it's going to be a long wait. But it's about grieving this moment, feeling all the feelings and then using all of those feelings to take them towards Los Angeles in four years time, which feels a long way away now."

Medal hopes for Team GB in the hockey arena aren't all dead and buried, with the women's team in action against reigning Olympic champions the Netherlands tomorrow.