The Indian men’s hockey group hopped two spots to fourth in the most recent FIH rankings on the rear of its uncommon back-wins against title holders Germany and Australia in the Genius Association matches in Rourkela.
Essentially, India pushed forward hockey stalwart Australia, who dropped one spot to fifth.
After winning the World Cup in January in Odisha, Germany climbed to the top of the rankings before falling to third after losing to India in consecutive matches.
India won four Pro League:
India won all four of their FIH Pro League matches at the world’s largest all-seater venue, the Birsa Munda Stadium, including two victories over Germany and Australia.
This occurred less than two months after India’s shocking elimination from the World Cup, which was held in Bhubaneswar and here in January.
India defeated Germany 3-2 and 6-3 in the doubleheader, while they defeated Australia 5-4 and 4-3 in a penalty shootout (after 2-2 in regulation time) in the first and second games, respectively.
India’s all-win performance not only propelled them to the top of the FIH Pro League points table, but the team led by Harmanpreet Singh also moved up two spots in the most recent FIH rankings, moving from sixth to fourth.
In the most recent rankings, Belgium, who finished second, sits in second place behind the World Cup bronze medalists the Netherlands.
We don’t really care about these things (world ranking). India captain Harmanpreet Singh stated, “Our only priority was to convert our chances and keep the pressure on the opponent.”
With 11 goals, he leads Belgium’s Alexander Hendrickx (six goals) in the FIH Pro League. The 21,000-seat Birsa Munda Stadium has proven to be a fortress for the Indian team, which has won eight games without losing. At this location, the Indian team has won seven games and drawn once.
India won three and drew one of its World Cup matches at the venue, two of which were in the group stage and two of which were in the classification stage. In the first match of the group, India defeated Spain 2-0 and drew England 0-0.
In the final group match at the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar, it defeated Wales 4-2 and lost to New Zealand in the knockout crossover game at the same venue in a penalty shootout to miss out on the championship.
The Indian team then finished joint ninth in the World Cup after winning two classification matches at the Birsa Munda Stadium.
We are pleased to maintain our record in Rourkela. In this magnificent stadium, we have never lost a game. The Birsa Munda Hockey Stadium is, without a doubt, extremely fortunate for us,” Harmanpreet stated.
The skilled drag-flicker, who scored twice in India’s tense shootout victory over Australia on Wednesday, stated, “When you get so much love and encouragement from fans, we want to go out there and win every single game.”
Nearly half of Australia’s first XI consisted of rookie players who were not part of the World Cup squad when they arrived at the FIH Pro League. Eight World Cup players were also cut from India’s roster, including senior players like Akashdeep Singh, Mandeep Singh, and Nilakanta Sharma.
Selvam Karthi, a striker who is currently the fourth-highest goal scorer in the FIH Pro League, was one of the new players who stood out. Sukhjeet Singh and Abhishek, two members of the World Cup squad, also performed well.