India appointed Craig Fulton as the new chief coach of the men's hockey team in March after a dismal performance in the 2023 Hockey World Cup.
The former South Africa international replaced Graham Reid, who guided India to the bronze medal in the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, but stepped down after the Men in Blue failed to reach the quarter-finals of the FIH hockey World Cup.
Fulton is already a man on a mission and has clear goals even before playing a single international match. The tactician, who guided Belgium to the pinnacle of world hockey, wants India to dominate Asia before conquering the world.
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What did Fulton say about his targets?
“What I have in my head is to be the No 1 team in Asia. Definitely, it is one of the goals which we want to achieve and be there consistently and then push because if we are sitting on world ranking 4 and 5, you need to consistently try to reach the podium,” Fulton said in his first media interaction, held virtually.
“The priority is to qualify for Paris Olympics through the Asian Games. This is our No 1 priority. By using the FIH Pro League, the four-nation in Spain and then the Asian Champions Trophy we want to really set us up to be strong and be in a position to qualify straightway,” he added.
What are Fulton's major achievements as coach?
Fulton's coaching career has been marked by remarkable achievements. He first gained recognition as the head coach of the Irish men's team from 2014 to 2018.
During this tenure, the team qualified for the 2016 Rio Olympics, marking Ireland's first Olympic qualification in a century. This historic accomplishment earned Fulton the prestigious FIH Coach of the Year award in 2015.
Fulton then went on to serve as an assistant coach of the reigning Olympic champions, Belgium, during their journey to securing the gold medal in the Tokyo Olympics. He was also part of the coaching staff that guided Belgium to victory in the 2018 World Cup held in Bhubaneswar.
What is Fulton's assessment of India?
The South African knows that he has some work to do with the new crop of Indian players and admitted that his troops are a league behind the best teams in the world.
“We are not the best team but we are a good team. We have some work to do but at the same time we are very difficult opponent to play, not many teams like playing us,” Fulton said.
“But realistically the place we are right now, there is a gap between us and world no.1 and 2 teams and we need to work (to bridge the gap)," he stated.