India’s men hockey team has ended the year 2017 at 6th position in the rankings revealed by the International Hockey Federation (FIH) on December 13. The men’s team were at the sixth spot at the beginning of the year and maintained their rank throughout the year. Women’s hockey team jumped two spots to end 2017 at the 10th position.
Though India (1566 points) won the bronze medal at the season-ending Hockey World League (HWL) Final on December 10, they were not able to topple fifth-placed Germany (1680).
The women’s team started the year at the 12th spot but slowly moved up two spots. Their Asia Cup win last month helped them leapfrog over Spain and Japan.
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Australia, who are at the top of men’s hockey list, climbed over Argentina for the first time since the Rio 2016 Olympics. The world number one spot is a familiar place for the Australians who, until the Olympics in Rio, had clinged to the top since January 2014. The HWL Final title helped Australia topple the South American champions and 2016 Olympic gold medallists.
FIH MEN’ S RANKINGS
|
RANK |
COUNTRY |
POINTS |
|
1 |
Australia |
2005 |
|
2 |
Argentina |
1975 |
|
3 |
Belgium |
1850 |
|
4 |
Netherlands |
1703 |
|
5 |
Germany |
1680 |
|
6 |
India |
1566 |
|
7 |
England |
1407 |
|
8 |
Spain |
1218 |
|
9 |
New Zealand |
1214 |
|
10 |
Ireland |
1043 |
Belgium, Netherlands and Germany remain unchanged at third, fourth and fifth respectively.
The other movers in the men’s world rankings are Spain who moved up one spot to take the eighth rank in the world, overtaking New Zealand in the process.
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In the women’s competition, the Netherlands retained their position at the top after they claimed the Sentinel Homes HWL Final title late last month.
FIH WOMEN’S RANKINGS
|
RANK |
COUNTRY |
POINTS |
|
1 |
Netherlands |
2165 |
|
2 |
England |
1823 |
|
3 |
Argentina |
1793 |
|
4 |
New Zealand |
1733 |
|
5 |
Australia |
1625 |
|
6 |
Germany |
1530 |
|
7 |
USA |
1298 |
|
8 |
China |
1256 |
|
9 |
Korea |
1221 |
|
10 |
India |
1040 |
England and Argentina remain in second and third place respectively following their involvement in the Auckland competition.
New Zealand’s silver medal at this event combined with Australia’s failure to qualify for the HWL Final and therefore earn points, meant that the Black Sticks overtook their Oceania neighbours to take the fourth place.
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South Korea’s bronze medal in Auckland means that the Asian team remains in ninth place in the rankings but they have closed the gap markedly on China, with only 35 points now separating the continental rivals.
Germany, the United States and China remain in sixth, seventh and eighth place in the world rankings respectively.
