The Asian Champions Trophy awards continental ranking points, not world ranking points.
Continental ranking points affect the world rankings indirectly: from these points, a continental ranking is compiled which then translates to a certain number of world ranking points (1st within Asia equals 750 points, 2nd equals 700 points etc.)
The change mentioned happens within the continental ranking for Asia. This is currently calculated on the basis of the results of the Asian Games and Asia Cup only, but in the future will be calculated from four tournaments in a four-year cycle, i.e. Asian Games, Asia Cup and two Asian Champions Trophy tournaments
To understand better let's take a look at the present scenario.
Malaysia is currently ranked 14th in the world rankings, 4th in Asian rankings based on the 4th place at the last Asian Games.
The total points Malaysia currently has is 866.
Pakistan is at 13th position with 935, Japan at 16th with 678 and China at 18th with 551.
The other Asian teams are India in 6th position with 1681 points and Korea at 11th position with 1025 points.
After the Asian Champions Trophy, at the next listing of the world rankings in January 2017, changes will reflect the positions team finished at the Kuantan tournament.
Meaning if Malaysia emerges champions, they will earn a maximum of 750 continental ranking points and adding to their FIH tournament points of 326 makes it a total of 1026 points overall.
But hold your horses as other Asian Trans too gain from the points depending where they finish.
Hence it is vital to know where the Asian teams stand based on solely FIH ranking points to further comprehend the whole matter.
Let's remove the continental points and just look at the FIH points
India - 911
Korea - 375
Pakistan - 235
Malaysia - 326
Japan - 183
China - 101
The points offered at the Asian Champions Trophy are as follows
Champs - 750
Runner Up - 700
Third - 650
Fourth - 540
Fifth - 495
Sixth - 450
One must also bear in mind that teams that qualify for the FIH Champs Trophy will gain points later this year as well.
So really for Malaysia to improve its world rankings it needs to break into the World Cup and Olympics and finish in a reputable position to gain points.
If not we will be talking on our rankings day in and day out, languishing where we are currently for years to come.
And before one seeks to twist the facts, the 2018 World Cup in India will have 16 teams. So qualification really is no big deal but finishing in the ranking between 1-8 will change our standings drastically.
