India men’s hockey team achieves all-time highest FIH ranking, jumps to 4th spot

Indian men’s hockey team has moved up one place to the fourth position in the latest table of world rankings to attain its highest ranking since 2003 FIH World Rankings began. In the first three rounds of the FIH Hockey Pro League, India managed to move from fifth to the fourth position in superb form.

In the latest FIH rankings, world champions Belgium continues to hold the top spot, having beaten Australia in Sydney in January to regain the top spot. Australia is ranked second while Holland follows Australia to take the third spot. Olympic champion Argentina has slipped to fifth place. Germany is sixth, England seventh and New Zealand eighth, while Spain is ninth.

India is fourth in the Pro League with 10 points from six wins, two draws and two bonus points in shootouts. India has lost two matches in the Pro League so far. Belgium is at the top with 14 points, followed by Holland with 11 points and Australia third with 10 points.

India lost the first match against Australia 3-4 in February and won the second match by shootout 3–1 after a 2–2 draw. India now has to tour Britain in May, where they will play matches against the hosts on May 2 and 3. Following the matches against Britain, the Indian team will return to India to host New Zealand in Bhubaneswar on 23 and 24 May. India is then scheduled to lock horns with Argentina on June 5 and 6. The men in Blue finally take on Spain on June 13 and 14.

While the Indian hockey team got good news on the ranking front, the hockey fans also got bad news on Monday itself. In view of the risk of infection of the Novel Coronavirus across the world, on Monday, it was decided to postpone the 29th season of the Azlan Shah Cup hockey tournament in September instead of April. However, the Indian team had already decided to give the championship a miss as the Indian team was focused on preparing for the Tokyo Olympics and feared injury to their players while participating in the Azlan Shah Cup.