Jumping to 5th spot in rankings is a big boost, says Sreejesh
India’s men’s hockey team captain P.R. Sreejesh says that jumping to the fifth spot in the world rankings has come as a big confidencebooster ahead of the 2018 Asian Games and the FIH World Cup later in the year.
Following their stupendous silver medal-winning performance at the recentlyheld FIH Champions Trophy in Breda, the Netherlands, the men’s Indian team has surged a spot ahead, pushing 2008 and 2012 Olympic champions Germany to the sixth spot in the world rankings released on Tuesday.
Australia (1906 points) sit 23 points ahead of second ranked Argentina (1883), with Belgium (1709) and the Netherlands (1654) occupying the third and fourth positions.
“We are really happy and elated to see ourselves jump one step ahead in the world rankings. The higher we go there is a lot more responsibility on our shoulders to do well and come up with consistent performance,” Sreejesh said in a statement on Wednesday.
“The elevation gives us a big boost to do well in the upcoming 18th Asian Games 2018 in Jakarta and the World Cup in Bhubaneswar where we want to finish on the podium in front of our home crowd,” the experienced goalkeeper remarked on the sidelines of the ongoing national camp at Sports Authority of India (SAI) centre in Bengaluru.
The 30-year-old further added that the team needs to work hard to achieve their desirable goal of moving up to top three in the world.
“When you are going higher up the world ranking, everyone (other teams) will take a close look at us and we will be in their radar constantly. We need to work really hard to maintain and improve our position,” he said.