Based on the experiences over the last few years, the ranking system has undergone a thorough revision with several important modifications, and with the results of the Olympic hockey tournament and qualifying events now entered in the calculations, the updated ABN AMRO WorldHockey Team Rankings see some major changes.
On the men's side, Olympic Champions Germany claim the top spot, overtaking Australia, while Spain - thanks to Beijing Silver - climb past the Netherlands into third place. Korea maintain 5th place, while England climb from 8 to 6, New Zealand from 11 to 7 and Belgium from 12 to 10 thanks to their participation and good final rankings in Beijing. On the flip side of the same coin, Argentina drop from 6 to 9 and India from 9 to 11 for not having qualified for the Olympic hockey tournament.
The big movers in the rankings are found further down however, where countries benefit from the new Olympic qualification system having allowed them to win points they never used to receive as well as the newly increased importance of continental results. This allows the Austrian men to climb from 25 to 21, Italy from 37 to 26, and Switzerland from 33 to 28, but the special mention for the fastest climber goes to Russia, catapulting themselves from 45th into 25th place!
For the women, the top three remain the same, with World and Olympic Champions the Netherlands ahead of Argentina and Germany. Olympic Silver heaves China from 6th into 4th place, at the expense of Australia and Japan, who both slip one place down. Spain hold on to 7th place, while England climb one into 8th place, the USA climb two for ninth, and New Zealand - courtesy of a disappointing performance in Beijing - drop three places from 8 to 11.
The women's big movers include Lithuania who jump from 36 to 28, propelled forward by the newly heavier weight of their good results in the continental competitions, as well as Chile and Belarus, who climb from 24 to 17 and 33 to 26 respectively with good performances in their Olympic Qualifiers.
The biggest mover in the women's Top 30 however is Wales, who, benefitting from the revalued continental results and their share of Great Britain's good Olympic performance, leapfrog 12 places, moving from 41 into 29 to put qualification for the 2010 Commonwealth Games very much within reach.
For full information on the ABN AMRO WorldHockey Team Rankings, please click here.
