India jumps to eighth spot in world hockey rankings

Riding on their fourth-place finish in the Hockey World League (HWL) Semi-final, India leapfrogged South Korea to take the eighth spot in the latest International Hockey Federation (FIH) rankings released on Thursday.

Asian Games 2014 champions India have 1454 points, while the Koreans have 1413 points in the rankings released after the completion of the four events comprising the HWL semi-Finals - Buenos Aires and Antwerp (men); Valencia and Antwerp (women).

The Indian women's team remained at 13.

Both the World Cup 2014 holders Australia (men) and the Netherlands (women) remain at the top after both teams won their respective HWL semi-final events, beating Belgium and Korea in the finals.

In the men's rankings, the Netherlands, who won silver in the 2014 World Cup remain in second place, while Olympic gold medallists Germany, who also won their HWL semi-final, are in third place.

The battle for fourth spot continues between Belgium (fourth) and England (fifth) - just 27 points separate the teams. Argentina (sixth) and New Zealand (seventh) remain unchanged.

A fourth-place finish for Canada in Buenos Aires means the North Americans have moved ahead of Ireland (14) to 13th. Canada's move means South Africa drop two places to 15th.

It is getting tight in the battle for top spots in the women's rankings as just 14 points separates Germany (fifth), China (sixth) and England (seventh).

While Australia (second), Argentina (third) and New Zealand (fourth) remain unmoved. American women have dropped from fifth to eighth.

Spain's fifth place finish in Valencia, saw the team move to 14th while Ireland have slipped to 15th after finishing eighth in the same event.