Mumbai, March 17 A superb home run in three wins and a penalty shootout lifted the Indian men’s team two places to fourth in the world rankings in the FIH Pro League.
In an updated list released on Friday after the Rourkela game, the Netherlands topped the table with 2848.28 points, while Australia fell in points following losses to India and Germany at Rourkela. Belgium is second with 2845.82 points, Germany (2752.12) is third and India is fourth with 2689.07 points.
The Netherlands (2848) moved up one spot to move up the world rankings as Germany dropped points to Australia and India in the Rourkela mini-tournament. Belgium (2846) also benefited from Germany’s defeat, moving up one place to second.
Germany (2752) slipped to third in the world rankings with one of four victories in the Rourkela mini-tournament, behind India (2689), who climbed two with three victories and a fine home run in a penalty shootout. ranked fourth. FIH said in a release on Friday that Australia (2576) had a tough start to their professional league campaign, with two wins from their first eight games, dropping them one place to No. five.
India moved up the rankings, England (2536) lost ground and slipped to sixth in the world rankings. Argentina (2,269) and Spain (2,251) join Australia in the mini-tournament in Hobart, with the two teams maintaining seventh and eighth places respectively. Three wins in Spain’s first three games saw them briefly climb to seventh place, but a loss to Argentina in the final game sent the team back into the standings. South Korea (1942) and New Zealand (1899) round out the top ten and have not played in international competition since the end of the World Cup.
In the FIH Women’s World Ranking, the Netherlands (3199) continues to top the list and maintains a huge lead over the second-placed Argentina (2640). The Australian team (2,546 games) started with 8 games, 3 wins, 4 draws (including 2 penalty kicks) and 1 loss. The professional league got off to a good start, and the world ranking remained third. The gap between the fourth- and seventh-placed teams is just over 100 points, with Germany (2260) moving up one place into fourth, ahead of fifth-placed England (2217), sixth-placed Belgium (2175) and ranked Seventh Spain (2157).
India (2086 runs), New Zealand (1879 runs) and China (1777 runs) round out the top 10, with India taking part in the Nations Cup for the last time and winning the title, securing a place in the 2023/24 season of the FIH Professional Hockey League.
–IANS
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