New Delhi: India's men's hockey team climbe upto the 3rd position in the world rankings that are ssued by International Hockey Federation (FIH). The FIH has named India's men's team at 3rd position, while the woman team also climbed up one place to 8th position. These are Indian team's best-ever hockey rankings.
Men's team won the bronze medal while the women's team misse out on a medal after losing 3-4 to Britain. India's hockey contingent had a great season. India won a medal in hockey after 41 years. The last medal came in Moscow Olympics 1980 when India had won a gold medal in hockey. It's because of this performanc that India is the number. 3 team in the world. Australia and Belgium are still holding the 1 and 2 places respectively.
On hearing this news, India's captain, Manpreet Singh said, "It's the reward of all the hard work and dedication towards the game we love, towards the game which has given us everything."
"This ranking and the Olympic medal after 41 years mark the rise of Indian Hockey, and I think this couldn't have happened without the support of the Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports, Sports Authority of India, Odisha Government and Hockey India. There is no looking back now, we have set the benchmark for ourselves and would like to grow from here," in a press release by Hockey India.
India had a solid Hockey campaign winning four out of their five pool matches and then defeating Great Britain 3-1 in quarter finals. Later, India lost to Belgium in semi-finals but came back strong and won their bronze medal match against Germany.