India drop to 5th in FIH rankings despite defeating Olympic champions Argentina

India drop to 5th in FIH rankings despite defeating Olympic champions Argentina

Action from India vs Argentina

India defeated Olympic champions Argentina with a comfortable 3-0 scoreline today at the Pro League in Buenos Aires. An earlier match between the two sides had ended in a 2-2 draw when drag-flicker Harmanpreet Singh scored a brace including an equalizer at the death. In the shoot-offs that followed PR Sreejesh emerged as the hero as his goalkeeping excellence came to the fore.

In the next match, India got a facile win as they coasted to a 3-0 victory. The side played excellently well and seemed to gel perfectly as they rode on goals from Harmanpreet, Lalit Upadhyay and Mandeep Singh to clinch victory. Goalkeeper Krishan Pathak was scintillating for the visitors as he made two important saves before India opened the scoring to keep a clean sheet at the end.

India slip in the FIH Rankings

India Hockey
Action from the match

Despite the two wins over Argentina, India slipped in the FIH World Rankings which were released on Monday. From the fourth spot, they dropped down to fifth. There was an increase in points from 2064.10 to 2223.458 however. Remaining at the top are Belgium with a whopping 2602.31 points. The side are the reigning World Champion and their form has not seemed to dwindle with time.

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Australia are second with 2489.53 points while Germany have jumped from sixth to third in the rankings, leading to India dropping down. Netherlands are fourth and India are fifth while Argentina are sixth, followed by England, New Zealand, Spain and Canada.

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