Thanks to their 3-1 victory over England in their bronze match at Euro Amsterdam on Sunday, the Red Panthers, the women’s national team, rose to 8th place in the world in a new ranking established on Monday by the International Hockey Federation (FIH). Their male counterparts from the Red Lions, who had lost their world No.1 status after the 1-2 defeat to England in the group stage of the same Euro, did not catch up by taking their revenge against the same opponent. in the small final on Saturday (success 3-2). The world champions remained second, behind Australia and ahead of the Netherlands.The Panthers had never been so high in the world rankings since its inception. Their best ranking was a 9th place in June 2019, following a first edition of the Pro League where they had finished 5th. At the beginning of February 2020, they had climbed to the same position, for a day, after a success, followed by a defeat in a double confrontation of the Pro League in New Zealand. The Netherlands, who won their 11th European crown on Sunday, are more than ever at the top of the standings, with nearly 600 points ahead of Argentina. Xavier Reckinger’s Germany, beaten 2-0 in the final by the Dutch in Amsterdam, is 3rd. Among the men, the Red Lions were demoted in the middle of last week to 2nd place after their only misstep in the group stage of the Euro (1-2 defeat to England). The new calculation system put in place by the FIH since 2020, updated daily, did not allow Belgium to recover its famous status of world No.1 despite the 3-2 success against the same English on Saturday in small final for bronze. Australia, which for three months has only met New Zealand (4x) due to the pandemic (and will meet it again twice in a week), is 47 points ahead of the Belgians. The latter will no longer play before the Tokyo Olympics. They have a 94-unit lead over the Netherlands, victorious in their Euro shoot-outs on Saturday against Germany, ranked 5th behind India. Dutch and Germans, in order, will be Shane McLeod’s men’s first opponents in the Tokyo Olympic tournament (July 24 to August 5). (Belga)
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