The Indian men’s hockey team slipped one place to occupy sixth in the FIH rankings after their lackluster show in the Rio Olympics while their female counterparts surprisingly gained one position to be at 12th in the latest charts released on Tuesday (August 23).
The men crashed out of the Olympics in the quarter-finals, losing to eventual runners-up Belgium 1-3, while the women’s team failed to get past the group stage.
The Roelant Oltman-coached side went into the Games as 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 them drop to sixth.
Australia’s Kookaburras – who finished in sixth place in Rio – remain in first place, but newly crowned Olympic champions Argentina earned enough points to move up five places to second. The Los Leones sit just ahead of fourth-place finishers and now third-ranked Netherlands, with Rio 2016 Olympic bronze medallists Germany moving down one place to fourth in the rankings.
Olympic silver medallists Belgium move up one place to fifth, with India being pushed down into sixth and Great Britain down from fourth to seventh.
Spain’s excellent performances at Rio 2016 saw them finish in fifth in the Olympics, enough to see them re-enter the top 10 at ninth in the rankings.
Ireland’s history-making Olympic performances have also paid off, with a 10th place finish in Rio moving them up to 10th in the rankings table.
On the women’s side of things, Great Britain’s shoot-out victory over the Netherlands saw them claim gold and move up to third in the FIH Hero World Rankings, just behind top-ranked Netherlands and Argentina, who remain in second place despite a seventh place finish in Rio.
Australia, New Zealand and the US all move down one place to fourth, fifth and sixth respectively, with Olympic bronze medallists Germany climbing two places from ninth to seventh.
Another climber is Spain, moving up from 14th to 11th, thanks to their eighth place finish at the Olympic Games.
The next update to the FIH Hero World Rankings will be published following the completion of the Hockey World League Round 1 events later this year.
(Photo credit: PTI)
Kujur's transformation began when he joined the Reliance Foundation programme in December 2022
