Tindall made his England debut in 2005

England forward James Tindall says the defence of their EuroHockey Nations title is crucial for Team GB ahead of the London Olympics.

The Surbiton player, 28, was part of the squad that won the title in 2009.

He told the BBC: "Defending our title is massively important. We want to keep winning these tournaments and push on towards 2012.

"It's a good test for us to see where we are in comparison to Spain, Holland and Germany."

He added: "For us to come away winning that tournament again would show we deserve to be fourth in the world."

England are in the same pool as the Netherlands, France and Ireland. They face their first match against the Irish in Monchengladbach on 21 August.

Tindall believes that extra work on their fitness will stand them in good stead when the competition gets under way.

"We've worked hard on our strength and conditioning coach Andrew Hudson," he continued. "We've been putting in the hard yards and it's something we believe we are the world's best at.

"Now we need to bring out our skills and abilities and make sure we perform at our highest."

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