The Indian men's hockey team, which finished a disappointing seventh in the Athens Olympic Games, have been ranked fifth in the latest Sahara World Hockey Team Rankings, topped by Olympic champions Australia.
Australia moved up from the third place, courtesy their maiden Olympic triumph, to replace bronze medallists Germany who slipped to second place. The duo were followed by 2000 Olympic champions and this edition's silver medal winners The Netherlands.
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Pakistan, who performed a shade better than India finishing fifth in the Games, were placed fourth.
The rankings system was devised by FIH, the game's world governing body, in October last year to establish open, fair and clear pool compositions of major FIH events and qualifiers.
Sahara, the global partners of FIH, have a three-year deal with FIH which gives them the title rights for the ranking system.
In women's hockey, Olympic bronze medallists Argentina retained their top place in the rankings while India, who did not qualify for the mega event, were languishing at the 15th place.
Surprise Olympic gold medallists Germany jumped from the seventh to the fifth slot.
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