Indian Men’s hockey team achieves all-time highest ranking

A new model for calculating the FIH World Rankings was introduced in January this year.

The Indian Men’s hockey team gained the reward of their excellent performance in the FIH Hockey Pro League as they climbed up to the fourth position in the FIH world rankings.

[KH_ADWORDS type="3" align="center"][/KH_ADWORDS]

This is their highest placement since the inception of the FIH World Rankings in 2003. India’s ascension comes at the expense of Olympic champions Argentina, who are now in the fifth place.

India have defeated the likes of Netherlands and Australia in the Hockey Pro League so far and the rise in the rankings will boost their confidence in the build-up to Olympics.

World champions Belgium, who in January defeated Australia in Sydney to wrestle for top spot from their opponents remain in pole position, with the Kookaburras (2nd) and the Netherlands (3nd) also holding their positions in the top three.

[KH_ADWORDS type="4" align="center"][/KH_ADWORDS]

Germany and England remain in sixth and seventh position, while New Zealand have regained eighth place after briefly dropping beneath Spain to ninth in February. The kiwis have earned two wins in their last three FIH Hockey Pro League matches.

The new model for calculating the FIH World Rankings was introduced on 1st January 2020, moving away from the previous tournament-based rankings system to a dynamic, match-based model where opposing teams exchange points in official, FIH sanctioned games.

The number of points exchanged depends on the result of the match, the relative ranking of the teams and the importance of the match.

In women’s FIH World Rankings, The Netherlands have retained their position at the top. There were some changes beneath them, most notably from the only team to have beaten them so far in this season’s FIH Hockey Pro League.

[KH_RELATED_NEWS title="Related News|Article continues below "][/KH_RELATED_NEWS]

Argentina’s impressive 2-0 triumph over the reigning World, European and Pro League champions in Buenos Aires helped them rise up to second in the rankings.

However, the results of their double-header against New Zealand at the weekend, where Las Leonas claimed just two points from a possible six, has seen Argentina fall back to the third position, with Australia returning to second place in the rankings.

The Indian team remains on the ninth position with 1543 points.