India men’s hockey team ascends in latest rankings
The Indian men’s hockey team jumped two places to occupy sixth place in the latest FIH rankings on the back of its good showing in the the Hockey World League Semi-Finals.
Asian Games champions India leapfrogged Belgium (three places down to seventh) and New Zealand (now eighth from seventh) while England and Argentina moved up one spot each to fourth and fifth respectively.
There’s no change in the men’s top three countries, with Australia, the Netherlands and Germany ranked first, second and third.
In the women’s rankings, India remained at 13th while Olympic and World champions the Netherlands stayed at the top. Australia followed by Argentina make up the top three.
The rankings were confirmed following the conclusion of the African Hockey Championships 2015.
Hockey India appoints strategic coach for men’s team
Hockey India today announced the appointment of Roger Van Gent as the strategic coach for the Indian men’s team for the Hockey World League Finals next month and next year’s Rio Olympics.
Roger will join the coaching staff of the Indian men’s hockey team and assist High Performance Director and Chief Coach Roelant Oltmans.
Van Gent, a Dutch citizen by nationality, embarked on his coaching career after securing FIH high performance coaching qualification in 2000. Since then he has worked with various domestic teams in the Netherlands.
He himself has been a part of the first team of a club, MEP in Boxtel, in the head division of the Netherlands for a decade (1978-88).
