NEW DELHI: Following their Asian Champions Trophy triumph, India climbed to third in the latest FIH rankings on Sunday, giving them a significant boost ahead of the Asian Games.
India (2771.35 points) moved up to third place, passing England (2763.50 points) and trailing top-ranked Netherlands (3095.90 points) and Belgium (2917.87 points).
This is India's second appearance at No. 3 in the FIH rankings. India attained a similar ranking in 2021 after winning a bronze medal at the Tokyo Olympics, their first medal at the Games in 41 years.
The Harmanpreet Singh-led side defeated Malaysia 4-3 on Saturday to win the ACT title. They staged an astonishing comeback from a 1-3 deficit at the halftime break.
India finished third in the event's last edition in 2021.
The Asian Games in Hangzhou begin on September 23 for the Indian hockey squad.
Malaysia, the ACT runners-up, maintained ninth position in the FIH rankings.
Apart from India and Malaysia, South Korea are ranked 11th, while Pakistan are ranked 16th. The other two teams in the ACT 2023 -- Japan are at 18th and China are ranked 28th in the latest rankings.
(With inputs from PTI)
