After Tokyo Olympics, India's men's, women's hockey teams achieve best-ever world rankings

Following their historic performance at the Tokyo Olympics, the Indian men's and women's hockey teams each advanced one spot to earn their highest-ever world rankings, at number 3 and 8, respectively. The Indian men's team was ranked third, behind gold medalist Belgium and silver medalist Australia, after ending a 41-year medal drought at the Olympics with a historic bronze.

Indian men's and women's Hockey Teams rankings

Indian men's team captain Manpreet Singh in a release issued by Hockey India, stated, "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...there is no looking back now, we have set the benchmark for ourselves and would like to grow from here."

Indian Women's Hockey

While the men's team won bronze, the women's team came up just short of a medal after losing to Great Britain in a hard-fought third-place play-off, finishing in fourth place.

Women's team skipper Rani Rampal noted, "We were very close to finishing on the podium, and it is hurting the team that we didn't. However, looking at the bright side, we have made remarkable progress in recent years, and I am really proud of it. Finishing in the top four at Olympics, and climbing to the 8th position in world rankings, is a very big thing for us, and this has boosted our confidence, it will certainly help us grow going forward."

Manpreet and his teammates finished second in Pool A, winning four of their five group matches and defeating Great Britain 3-1 in the quarterfinals before falling to Belgium 2-5 in the historic semifinal. However, they staged a miraculous comeback to defeat Germany 5-4 to earn a historic bronze medal at the Olympic Games, and as a result, they soared to their highest-ever world ranking.

Indian Men's Hockey

Indian men's team chief coach Graham Reid stated, "I must admit, I feel privileged to have played a part in the rise of Indian Hockey. It's a great feeling that we won the historic Bronze Medal as well as achieving the highest ranking on the back of our solid performance in the Olympics. We played like a unit, with the right kind of attitude, and I think that has helped the team achieve this feat."

After losing three games in the preliminary round, the women's team pulled off possibly the biggest upset by defeating world number three Australia in the Olympic quarterfinals for the first time. The women's team, on the other hand, lost both its semifinal and bronze medal play-off matches to Argentina and Great Britain, respectively. Sjoerd Marijne, the outgoing chief coach of the Indian women's team, said, "Achieving 8th rank in the world ranking and finishing among the top four at Olympics, is a big step for Indian Women's hockey, and I think every team will definitely take us seriously. The athletes have that desire to learn and improve each and every day, and I feel this is one of the biggest reasons why we could finish among the top four."

In March of last year, the men's team was ranked No. 4 in the world after dominating the first three rounds of the second season of the FIH Hockey Pro League. The women's team, on the other hand, had already achieved their greatest world ranking of 9th, which they earned by achieving their best finish (Quarter-Finals) at the 2018 World Cup in London. The women's team became the top-ranked Asian team after reaching the World Cup quarterfinals and went on to win silver at the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta.

(with inputs from PTI)

Picture Credit: @KirenRijiju/Twitter