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Picture Credit: Twitter

After a delightful end to a dream campaign at the Tokyo Olympics 2020, the joy keeps coming for the Indian Hockey teams. Both the teams registered their best-ever performance at the Olympics as the men's team bagged the bronze medal, while the women's team finished fourth. And now, they have climbed up in the FIH (International Hockey Federation) World rankings and have achieved their highest ever rankings. The men's team now sit at the third position, while the women's team have moved to the 8th position.

The Men's Hockey Team ended the four decades drought when they clinched a bronze medal at the Tokyo Olympics. This achievement contributed majorly to their improvement in the World Rankings. They are now only behind Belgium and Australia. Before this, the Manpreet Singh-led side's career-high ranking was No. 4 which they had achieved in March 2020 following their performance at the FIH Hockey Pro League 2020. For the Rani Rampal-led women's team, their performance in the Pool A matches and then in the quarterfinals helped them better their rankings. They now sit at 8th place according to the latest FIH World Rankings, one rank above their career-high ranking.

Captains extremely happy about their teams' achievement

Having achieved their best-ever rankings, both team captains and coaches could not hold back their joy and expressed their emotions on this feat. Men's team captain Manpreet Singh said this was a reward for their hard work and dedication. “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,” said Manpreet.

The women's team skipper also spared time to acknowledge this achievement and felt happy about it. “We were very close to finishing on the podium, and it is hurting the team that we did not. 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 the Olympics and climbing to the 8th position in the world ranking, is a very big thing for us,” said Rani Rampal.