New Delhi: The Indian men and women’s hockey team surged one place to reach their highest world rankings in number 3 and 8, rising on their historic campaign at the Tokyo Olympics.
The Indian man’s team, which ended a 41-year-old medal drought by achieving a historic bronze at the Olympics, was placed behind the Belgian gold medal and Australian fortune medal.
“This is a gift from all the hard work and dedication to the game we love, towards the game that has given us everything,” said the captain of the Indian Man Manpreet Singh in a release issued by Indian Hockey.
“Ranking and Olympic medal after 41 years marking the rise of Indian hockey …
no one looked back now, we have set benchmarks for ourselves and want to grow from here.” While the man claimed the bronze, the woman’s team was narrow to skip a medal after going down to England at the third place play-off place struggling hard, ending in fourth place.
“We are very close to finishing on the podium, and it hurts a team that we don’t do.
However, seeing the good side, we have made extraordinary progress in recent years, and I am very proud of it,” Women’s.
Skipper Tim Rani Rampal said.
“Finishing in the top four at the Olympics, and climbing to 8th position in the world ranking, is a very big thing for us, and this has encouraged our trust, it will definitely help us grow forward.” Manpreet and Co have finished second in Pond A, win four of the five group phase matches and beat the United Kingdom 3-1 in the quarter-finals before losing 2-5 against Belgium in their historical semifinals.
However, they made an extraordinary comeback to take a 5-4 victory over Germany to win a historic bronze medal at the Olympics and consequently rise to their best world rankings.
“I have to admit, I feel that I have a privilege to play a role in the rise of Indian hockey.
A good feeling that we won a historic bronze medal and reached the highest rating behind our solid performance at our Olympics,” the head coach of Indian men’s team Graham Reid said.
“We play like one unit, with the right attitude, and I think it has helped the team achieve this achievement.” After suffering three losses in the initial phase, the female team was released from this biggest annoyed by defeating the world number 3 in Australia in what the first quarter finalist Olympics.
However, the women’s team lost the semi-final match and bronze medal against Argentina and England, respectively.
The head coach of the Indian women’s team who came out Sjoerd Marijne said, “Ranking 8th in the ranking and finishing between the top four at the Olympics, is a big step for Indian women’s hockey, and I think every team will definitely think we are serious.” The athletes have the desire to learn and improve every day, and I feel this is one of the biggest reasons why we can finish among the top four.
“The men’s team was ranked No.
4 in March last year behind their brilliant performances in the first three rounds of the second edition of the Hockey Pro League fih.
On the other hand, the world’s highest rating of the previous women’s team was 9, which they achieved by producing results Their end of them (quarter-final) at the World Cup in London in London 2018.
After reaching the World Cup quarter-finals, the women’s team has become the top-ranked Asian team and continues to win a silver medal at the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta.