Jump in rankings a big boost: Sreejesh

New Delhi: Men’s hockey captain Sreejesh P.R. said a surge in the world rankings will motivate the team to do better. India jumped one place in the latest world rankings to be placed fifth.

With just a month left for the Asian Games, India are currently undergoing a preparatory camp in Bengaluru and will face New Zealand in a three-match series at SAI Centre Bangalore, beginning Thursday.

“We are elated to see ourselves jump one step ahead in the world rankings. The higher we go there is a lot more responsibility on our shoulders to do well and come up with consistent performance.

“The elevation in world ranking gives us a big boost to do well in the upcoming Asian Games in Jakarta and the World Cup in Bhubaneswar where we want to finish on the podium in front of our home crowd.”.

The goalkeeper added that the team need to work hard to achieve their goal of moving into the top-3 in the world rankings.

“When you are going higher up the world ranking, everyone (other teams) will take a close look at us and we will be on the radar constantly. We need to work hard to maintain and improve our world ranking.

“I believe we have the potential to go higher up to world no. 3 but for that we need to do significantly well at the upcoming,” he said.