New Delhi | The Indian men’s and women’s hockey teams have achieved their highest FIH world rankings after a dream run at the Tokyo Olympics 2020. The Indian men’s hockey team, which ended a 41-year medal drought by winning a bronze medal in Tokyo, moved up to third place in the International Hockey Federation’s world rankings behind Belgium and Australia respectively, while the Indian women’s hockey team, in the latest FH world rankings According to it has reached 8th place.
Prior to this feat, the Manpreet Singh-led side had a career-high ranking of No-4, which they achieved on the back of their stellar performances in the first three rounds of the second edition of the FIH Hockey Pro League 2020 in March 2020.
The Indian women’s team, on the other hand, had the highest ever world ranking of 9th, which they achieved with their best finish (quarterfinals) in four decades at the Vitality Hockey Women’s World Cup London 2018. After reaching the quarter-finals of the World Cup, the Indian team became the top-ranked Asian team and won a silver medal at the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta Palembang.
Both the teams achieved their highest ranking after their stellar performance at the Tokyo Olympics 2020. Manpreet & Co finished second in Pool A by winning four out of five matches in the group stage and defeating Great Britain 3–1 in the quarter-finals but losing 5–2 to Belgium in the semi-finals. However, it won 5–4 over Germany to secure a historic bronze medal at the Olympic Games.
The women’s team had to face three defeats in the opening matches. Arguably the biggest upset came when she reached the quarter-finals and defeated the world’s No. 3 Australian teams. Rani & Co lost both the semi-final and bronze medal play-off matches against Argentina and Great Britain respectively.
Thus, India’s women’s hockey team moved up to the 8th position in the world rankings by finishing fourth in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
