India drops 22 places to 160th in FIFA rankings

New Delhi: Lack of international matches and two recent losses to Thailand hit India hard as Bob Houghton’s side plunged 22 places down to occupy 160th spot in the latest FIFA rankings issued on Wednesday.

India lost 47 points since the previous rankings last month to tally 82 points to its kitty. It is now only two places above western neighbours Pakistan (162) and is below all the other South Asian countries -- Maldives (143), Bangladesh (145), Sri Lanka (148) and Nepal (156). India, who were 24th among Asian nations last month, now occupies the 33rd place.It’s latest ranking is just five places better than India’s all-time lowest - it was ranked 165th in March 2007. But Houghton, who was at the helm then, on the basis of India’s Nehru Cup triumph, soon saw the team move up in rankings. Australia leads the Asian pack at 24th, followed by Japan (30) and South Korea (44).In the overall list, world champions Spain continued their reign at the top, followed by the Netherlands, Germany, Brazil, Argentina, England, Uruguay, Portugal, Egypt and Chile. PTI