Indian men’s hockey team reached the fourth position in the rankings
New Delhi. The Indian men’s hockey team has jumped two places to fourth in the FIH (World Hockey Federation) rankings after back-to-back wins against world champions Germany and Australia in Pro League matches. With this, India has overtaken one of the strongest hockey teams in the rankings, Australia. Australia’s team slipped to fifth place. Germany, which rose to the top spot after winning the World Cup title in Odisha in January this year, slipped two places to third after losing two consecutive matches to India. In this World Cup, the Indian team failed to reach the quarter-finals.
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India beat Germany 3-2 and 6-3 in their Pro League matches, while Australia 5-4 and 4-3 in the penalty shoot-out after the match ended in a 2-2 draw in regular time. With four consecutive wins, India moved to the top of the FIH Pro League points table. With this, the Harmanpreet Singh-led team moved up from sixth to fourth position in FIH. World Cup bronze medalist Netherlands continues to top the list while runners-up Belgium occupy the second spot in the latest rankings. Indian skipper Harmanpreet Singh said, “These things (world rankings) don’t matter much to us. We don’t take it into account when we play. Our only priority is to capitalize on our chances and keep the pressure on the opponent.
