Men’s team slips one place to sixth in FIH rankings
The Indian men’s side crashed out of the Olympics in the quarterfinals by losing to eventual runner-up Belgium 1-3 while the women’s team failed to get past the group stage.
Published : Aug 23, 2016 19:51 IST
The Indian men’s hockey team slipped one place to occupy sixth in the FIH rankings after its lacklustre show in Rio Olympics while its female counterpart surprisingly gained one position to be at 12th in the latest charts released today.
The Indian men’s side crashed out of the Olympics in the quarterfinals by losing to eventual runner-up Belgium 1-3 while the women’s team failed to get past the group stage.
The Roelant Oltmans-coached side went into the Olympics fifth in the rankings but two wins, two losses and a draw in the group stage and a defeat to Belgium in the last-eight stage saw it pushed down to sixth in the latest rankings.
Australia - which finished in sixth place in Rio - remains in first place, but newly crowned Olympic champion Argentina earned enough points to move up five places to second. Argentina sits just ahead of fourth place finisher and now third ranked Netherlands, with Rio 2016 Olympic bronze medallist Germany moving down one place to fourth in the rankings.
Olympic silver medallist Belgium move up one place to fifth, with India being pushed down into sixth and England (Great Britain) down from fourth to seventh. Spain’s excellent performances at Rio 2016 saw it finish fifth in the Olympic standings, enough to see it re-enter the top 10 to sit ninth in the rankings.
Ireland’s history making Olympic performances have also paid off, with a 10th place finish in Rio moving it up to 10th in the rankings table.
On the women’s side of things, Great Britain’s shoot-out victory over the Netherlands saw it claim gold and move up to third in the FIH World Rankings (as England), just behind top ranked Netherlands and Argentina, which remains in second place despite a seventh place finish in Rio.
Australia, New Zealand and USA all move down one place to fourth, fifth and sixth respectively, with Olympic bronze medallist Germany climbing two places from ninth to seventh. Another climber is Spain, moving up from 14th to 11th thanks to its eighth place finish at the Olympic Games.