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Hockey: Uganda keeps position in FIH rankings
Playing safe. Uganda's captain Emmanuel Baguma shields the ball away from Zimbabwe's Gift Chomunorwa in Pretoria. PHOTO/ABBOTT BIRUNGI
What you need to know:
The Hockey Cranes probably did not change their status because of their on-field performance against teams that have very high ranking points like South Africa in the groups, Egypt in the semis and Ghana in the third place playoffs.
Uganda is still the ninth ranked team in Africa and 91st in the world despite a semi-final finish in the continental Olympic Qualifiers that ended Sunday in Pretoria, South Africa.
The Hockey Cranes probably did not change their status because of their on-field performance against teams that have very high ranking points like South Africa in the groups, Egypt in the semis and Ghana in the third place playoffs. Those weighty losses left the ranking points falling from 595.94 as of September 7 to now 576.79.
The top ranked teams in Africa remained South Africa and Egypt, who kept at 14th and 20th respectively in the world.
Ghana moved two places up to 35th thanks to their bronze medal performance while Nigeria moved to 37th from 43rd. Kenya dropped a position in the world rankings to 57th but moved above Zimbabwe on the continental table. However, their points also dropped from 795.01 to 782.61 after losing to Nigeria in the fifth place playoffs.
Zimbabwe have amazingly fallen from 48th to 81st in FIH rankings with their points dropping from 836.32 to 683.04. Zambia remain seventh placed while Namibia, who did not take part in the qualifiers in Pretoria are eighth.
There was a general drop in points for teams especially those that met South Africa as it humiliated them.
In January 2020, FIH went away from the tournament based ranking system which would have had Uganda move up to probably fourth in Africa. The new match based system involves an exchange of points between the two teams competing in each match played.
The number of points exchanged depends on the result of the match, the relative ranking of the teams and the importance of the match. This means that Uganda’s ranking was calculated after every match starting with Nigeria on October 29 to Ghana on November 5.
FIH MEN'S WORLD RANKINGS
Rank Team Points
14 South Africa 1813.29
20 Egypt 1489.22
35 Ghana 1009.37
37 Nigeria 947.18
57 Kenya 782.61
81 Zimbabwe 683.04
82 Namibia 664.68
85 Zambia 660.21
91 Uganda 576.79
95 Malawi 153.92
