The Indian Women’s Hockey Team achieved their best-ever world ranking as they climbed up a spot to ninth place in the latest FIH Hero World Rankings published today by the International Hockey Federation (FIH). The improvement in ranking comes as added motivation for the Indian team as they also report for a brief 4-day National Camp at the Sports Authority of India (SAI), Bengaluru Campus starting today.
The Indian team produced its best finish in four decades at a Women’s World Cup as they made their way to the Quarter-Finals of the recently concluded Vitality Hockey Women’s World Cup London 2018. Previously ranked No. 10 in the FIH Hero World Rankings, the Indian team displayed some solid performances throughout the tournament in London, conceding only three goals in the five matches that they played, losing out to eventual Silver-medalists Ireland 3-1 in the Penalty Shootout after a goal-less Quarter-Final tie at the Lee Valley Hockey and Tennis Centre.
The new ranking means that the Indian eves will go into the upcoming 18th Asian Games as the top-ranked Asian team in the world, but Chief Coach Sjoerd Marijne believes that this is just a start for this young bunch of girls. “The new ranking comes as added motivation to our team for the upcoming Asian Games, but what is even better to see is that the players are not satisfied. There is more hunger in the squad to improve the ranking further by performing consistently at the highest level. We do have plenty of positives from the World Cup as the girls produced very good hockey, showing their grit and character to get through to the last eight,” stated the Dutchman.
Marijne said that the improvement in ranking was down to the team keeping their defensive structure intact consistently even when they were under pressure, “One must note that we only conceded three goals in the whole tournament in London. The defence was very solid and that starts with our forward-line as your entire team contributes to a strong defensive structure. We have placed special focus on our structure during matches and now we can see that the girls have come a long way in the past two years. They are now fully aware of their capabilities on the turf and I’m sure the new ranking will surely motivate them to excel at the Asian Games.”
{{/usCountry}}Marijne said that the improvement in ranking was down to the team keeping their defensive structure intact consistently even when they were under pressure, “One must note that we only conceded three goals in the whole tournament in London. The defence was very solid and that starts with our forward-line as your entire team contributes to a strong defensive structure. We have placed special focus on our structure during matches and now we can see that the girls have come a long way in the past two years. They are now fully aware of their capabilities on the turf and I’m sure the new ranking will surely motivate them to excel at the Asian Games.”
{{/usCountry}}The rise to 9th spot also coincides with the Indian team starting their preparatory camp which will have a total of 25 Core Group members, including the 18-member squad which was picked last month for the 18th Asian Games to be held in Jakarta-Palembang.
The new World No. 9 team is placed in Pool B along with South Korea, who have swapped places with the Indian team, to be now ranked World No. 10. Thailand, Kazakhstan and hosts Indonesia are also grouped with the top-2 Asian teams, and Chief Coach Marijne knows that there is room for improvement. “We only have a few days in camp to prepare ourselves, but we will be looking to ensure that our passing is 100% accurate in our build-up play, and we must also improve our Penalty Corner conversion rate and take more shots on goal,” Marijne said.
The list of 25 Core Group members of the Indian Women’s Hockey Team who will be taking part in the National Camp:
Goalkeepers
1. Savita
2. Rajani Etimarpu
3. Swati
Defenders
4. Deep Grace Ekka
5. Sunita Lakra
6. Deepika
7. Gurjit Kaur
8. Reena Khokhar
9. Sushila Chanu Pukhrambam
10. Manmeet Kaur
Midfielders
11. Namita Toppo
12. Lilima Minz
13. Monika
14. Udita
15. Nikki Pradhan
16. Neha Goyal
17. Priyanka Wankhede
18. Sonika
Forwards
19. Rani
20. Vandana Katariya
21. Lalremsiami
22. Navneet Kaur
23. Navjot Kaur
24. Preeti Dubey
25. Anupa Barla