“It’s quite nice to be back in New Delhi. This is where it all started,” beamed Craig Fulton as he settled into a settee of a complicated lodge foyer on Monday.
India chief coach Craig Fulton. (Hockey India)
Life has come a full circle for the 49-year-old. It was right here within the nationwide capital that the South African made his worldwide debut as a freckled 21-year-old on the 1995 Indira Gandhi Gold Cup, additionally scoring a purpose.
Twenty-nine years since, Fulton is returning to the long-lasting Main Dhyan Chand Nationwide Stadium, solely this time because the chief coach of the Indian males’s hockey staff, who will tackle reigning world champions Germany in a two-Take a look at collection on Wednesday and Thursday. “Nobody forgets their first cap,” he provides.
Having guided India to a successive Olympic podium for the primary time in 52 years, Fulton delivered for precisely what he had been introduced in for, particularly after the debacle of the 2023 World Cup the place India failed to succeed in even the quarter-finals. He took cost of the low-on-confidence staff, giving them path that received India successive gold medals at each the Asian Champions Trophy and Asian Video games final 12 months.
Fulton failed his first main take a look at in 2024 miserably when India have been whitewashed 0-5 within the away tour of Down Underneath earlier than redeeming himself with the Paris bronze, additionally serving to India beat Australia on the Olympics – for the primary time in 52 years on the Video games.
India, then, travelled to China final month the place they strengthened their pre-eminent place as the most effective staff in Asia, which was Fulton’s first goal as India coach. Now, having achieved his targets of the No.1 staff in Asia and Olympic podium, Fulton has already began planning for Los Angeles 2028.
“Now, the main target is to broaden the base (player pool) for the training squad, get the right players in, who will take Indian hockey forward with the 2026 World Cup and Asian Games being the priority, and then hopefully qualify for Los Angeles 2028 directly and have a good preparation period going into LA,” stated Fulton.
Preserving within the thoughts the age of some senior gamers who would possibly cease after both the 2026 World Cup or 2028 Olympics, Fulton is holding busy in figuring out a digital U-25 staff who will probably play within the subsequent two Olympic cycles which is why intends to take U-25 boys to the tour of Europe in November-December and provides the seniors much-deserved relaxation.
“Our focus is to be the best we can be. It’s a new four-year block so we need to open it up with a look on broadening the squad for the future. We have players that are sitting in that age group. We’re looking to bring in another squad of 14-15 players who are just above the U-21 class but not as experienced to join the senior squad,” stated Fulton.
“The other players are already training in camp because it takes a long time to learn the training because it’s heavy. So, if you’re a younger player who hasn’t done a lot of strength training and then trained as hard, it takes 6-8 months to get into that rhythm, and then you understand, and then you can get stronger and stronger. So, we want players that are match ready so that there’s no downtime to get them up to speed to our level. So if you transition senior players out, they need to be at that level and match ready as soon as you need them.”
Whereas Fulton is at present focussed on the 2 matches in opposition to Germany, it will likely be the revamped Hockey India League (HIL) that he’ll maintain his eye on to construct a bigger pool of gamers, who this time round will probably be enjoying with and in opposition to the most effective gamers from all over the world.
“I should be there from the beginning to watch and observe our younger players. This is all about selection for us, to pick that training group and the India A team. Hopefully, everyone has a great opportunity and gets good minutes in their teams and can put their best foot forward,” he stated.
Strain speak
The India job is way totally different to any of his earlier stints, with the legacy of the sport in India, the highlight it at all times in below, fixed expectation of outcomes and questions after failures. It took him a little bit of time, however Fulton is accustomed to the Indian means the place he feels “the pressure is never off”. And with him and his staff delivering, expectations and pressures have solely grown.
“The expectations are bigger now. It shows we’re on track. We got back-to-back (Olympic) medals. The nice thing is when you look at the team that played Australia in Tokyo (1-7 loss) to the next Olympics, to beat them (3-2), there’s progression and that’s a really positive way to look at it,” stated Fulton.
“But expectation brings focus. I don’t like to call it pressure, I like to call it focus. Because when you have expectations, you need focus.”