Surge in World Ranking is big motivation, says Indian Men's Hockey Team skipper PR Sreejesh
Following their stupendous Silver-Medal performance at the recently-held FIH Men's Hockey Champions Trophy 2018 in Breda, the Netherlands, the Indian Men's Hockey Team have have surged ahead in Men's FIH Hero World Ranking from World No.6 to fifth place. The PR Sreejesh-led Indian team's recent exploits has pushed Germany to sixth place.
According to the FIH Release on Tuesday, Australia (1906 points) sit 23 points ahead of second ranked Argentina (1883), with Belgium (1709) and Netherlands (1654) occupying the respective 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. The elevation in World Ranking gives us a big boost to do well in the upcoming 18th Asian Games 2018 in Jakarta and the Odisha Hockey Men's World Cup Bhubaneswar 2018 where we want to finish on the podium in front of our home crowd," expressed Sreejesh on the sidelines of the ongoing National Camp at Sports Authority of India, Bengaluru.
The ace goalkeeper further added that the team needs to work hard to achieve their desirable goal of moving up to Top 3 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 World Ranking. I believe we have the potential to go higher up to World No.3 but for that we need to do significantly well at the upcoming events and World Ranking has certainly added positive energy to our preparations," stated Sreejesh, who was awarded the Goalkeeper of The Tournament title at the FIH Men’s Hockey Champions Trophy 2018.
Meanwhile, the team's Chief Coach Harendra Singh congratulated his players for their efforts but was quick to add that they must remain persistent to climb further up. "My heartiest congratulations to all the players, support staff and Hockey India for their constant support. It is the hard work of the players that has paid dividends. I believe this team has the potential to do better and moving up to Top 3 is realistic if we finish on the podium at the Odisha Hockey Men's World Cup Bhubaneswar 2018. We must work harder now and take this as a big motivation to excel in forthcoming tournaments," stated Chief Coach Harendra Singh.