KUALA LUMPUR: As anticipated, the national men's hockey team have slipped two spots to No. 12 in the world rankings following their disappointing sixth-place finish at the Hangzhou Asian Games.
The Speedy Tigers, who targeted gold, suffered a 5-2 defeat to Pakistan in the fifth-sixth classification match on Friday.
However, A. Arul Selvaraj's side are likely to drop further to world No. 14 after the African and South American continental qualifiers take place.
India, who secured their spot in the Paris Olympics and the Asian Games title after hammering Japan 5-1 in the final, maintain their position at world No. 3.
Bronze medallists South Korea now stand as the second-highest ranked Asian team, holding the No. 10 spot.
Five men's teams from the Asian Games have secured a place in the Olympic qualifiers scheduled for January next year.
These teams include Malaysia, Pakistan, South Korea, Japan, and China.
From Europe, seven teams have qualified for the qualifiers, namely Austria, Belgium, Ireland, Britain, Germany, Spain, and Ukraine.
From Oceania, the contenders are New Zealand.