Star striker SV Sunil on Saturday said the Indian hockey team has improved by leaps and bounds in the last few years and achieving a top-three rank in the world is definitely a realistic target now.
The Indian team is ranked sixth in the FIH rankings and Sunil, who was recently adjudged the the Asian Player of the Year 2016, said doing well in the upcoming tournaments will be crucial for the team.
"It's a good improvement from being placed 12th or 13th about four years ago. I feel if we keep up our performances and show good results starting right from the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup where teams like Australia, New Zealand and Malaysia will take part, we have a very good chance of improving our ranking and the aim is definitely to reach world ranking of top 3," Sunil was quoted as saying in a HI press release.
Indian team has a lot of assignments lined-up for the next year such as Asia Cup, Hockey World league Final, Asian Games, Commonwealth Games, Asian Champions Trophy and World Cup in 2018.
Sunil said getting the Asian Player of the Year award from the Asian Hockey Federation came as a surprise.
"I didn't expect it when coach called out Harmanpreet (Asian Promising Player of the Year 2016) and me from the pitch in the middle of the training session to inform us about the award. At first I thought we were being punished for something," Sunil said.