FIH Nations Cups

[sameerph]

And we win it.

We win the tournament and qualify for elite pro league next year.

[Saffron Lenin]

[Saffron Lenin]

I can't believe it!!!!!

[sameerph]

Great defensive work to hold for 54 mins after scoring as early as in 6th minute.

[jayakris]

We win the tournament and qualify for elite pro league next year.

This is what confuses me. I thought we were already in the Pro League (didn't we finish third in 2021-22)??

[sameerph]

We win the tournament and qualify for elite pro league next year.

This is what confuses me. I thought we were already in the Pro League (didn't we finish third in 2021-22)??

I too was confused. Looked up on wiki. It seems we finished third in 2021-22 pro league which ended in June this year. But, we had got into that season of pro league because some teams pulled out due to covid. Now, we are not part 2022-23 pro legue season which started this November and will end next July,
We now qualified for 2023-24 pro league which I guess will start sometime in October-December 2023.

[jayakris]

I was also looking at the wikipedias and what you say is what must have happened. They basically relegated us after finishing third because we were a "replacement team" (talk about injustice) and made us play this event to get back. How weird!

Anyway, I am glad we made it in. Now, how is Spain not in the FIH Pro league with their #7 ranking ahead of our #8? They will hopefully cry bloody murder. Did all this, and hosted this first Nations Cup just to get into the league that they should have already been in, based on rankings... but then they had to beat the third place team from the latest Pro League edition (who shouldn't have been there in Valencia either) and failed at it. That is really sad for Spain. I assume they will also be in, somehow. But who knows. FIH seems to just create rules and formats on the fly to suit what they want.

[Saffron Lenin]

Spain will prepare for next year's Fih nations Cup ...
However, on serious note, they are better team than china and USA who are currently playing in Pro-league

[arjun2761]

Congrats to team India on a very solid performance! They were the best team in the tournament and were deserving winners. Beating Spain at their home was a quality win!

[PKBasu]

Good win, and congratulations to the team -- particularly for beating Spain in the final. But India finished 3rd in the FIH Pro League last year (2021-22 cycle), so it is bizarre that India was relegated to playing the Nations Cup (qualifier for the Pro League) this year. There are 9 teams in the Pro League, so this is a rather odd compensation prize.

OK, just noticed the discussions above. From what I can tell, Australia, New Zealand and China were the ones who dropped out of the last Pro League cycle. But since we finished 3rd, the last 3 teams in last year's Pro League should have been relegated, not us. FIH is a shambles.

[jayakris]

But since we finished 3rd, the last 3 teams in last year's Pro League should have been relegated, not us. FIH is a shambles.

That is the bottom line. Shambles.

[Saffron Lenin]

It doesn't matter what happen in past....We should look forward.... next target should be in top5.....Team like Holland, Belgium, Australia, Germany, Argentina, England are doing better than us.....we finished 3rd because there was no Australia, Nederland and Germany send their 3rd grade team due to their local leagues!!!!!

[jayakris]

That is true. I didn't think we were top-3 because of the pro league show, but it still proved that we were top 7 or so (and that is what our November FIH ranking is, too). So we shouldn't have been playing this event to prove ourselves once again. Anyway, I agree. Let us be happy that we proved that we are fully deserving of our ranking. Now need to move up to top-5. We are not there just yet. Look forward!!