Hockey
Priority is to qualify for Olympics: Indian men's hockey coach Craig Fulton
Indian men's hockey team Craig Fulton has underlined qualifying for the 2024 Paris Olympics as his major priority with the team.
Indian men's hockey team will be back in action soon in the Europe leg of the FIH Hockey Pro League with a new-looking coaching staff. Newly-appointed head coach of India, Craig Fulton has underlined his goal of doing well at the Asian Games and qualifying for the 2024 Paris Olympics.
"It is one of the toughest jobs in hockey. I am here to do well and expect it to go well. I like this group and the environment. We have a few competitions lined up and I am looking forward to Asian Games," Craig Fulton told the media about his new job.
"Everybody wants to win the Olympics which is the pinnacle of the sport. We want to play and inspire the next generation of hockey players," Craig said.
Indian men's hockey team had a tough hockey world cup at home finishing in 9th place which eventually resulted in the departure of former coach Graham Reid.
Talking about the WC, Craig said, "I can't comment on the world cup. Kudos to Graham Reid to get a bronze medal at the Olympics and improve India's ranking. The group is confident after the Rourkela leg of the FIH Pro League and the team is playing well."
Craig Fulton made a name for himself with a stint with the Irish Men's Team as the Head Coach between 2014 to 2018 when the team qualified for the Rio Olympic Games 2016.
With more than 25 years of coaching experience, Craig Fulton is known for his tactical nous and is an astute reader of the game. Craig Fulton has described himself as someone who loves to keep intact defense.
"I think I am a defensive coach if you ask me. I like my defensive structures in place as it is the first step of attacking. I like to score goals but I want to be solid defensively," Craig said.
He added further, "This is not the right time to make big changes. I am observing and understanding the team. I am building my rapport with the team and focusing on their strengths."
There was a major discussion around the requirement of a mental coach for the team when the departing coach Graham Reid mentioned it. Talking about the mental aspect, Craig said," I am well aware of the mental aspect. I am in talks with Hockey India to get a specialist for the mental condition and we can see something coming up soon."
Indian team is one of the most exciting teams to watch in the past few years. With Craig Fulton observing the team from outside, he explained how he sees the current group.
"India looks very exciting as a team from the outside. They are tough to play against at home but they need to be more consistent from home. Six teams at the top are from Europe and we would want to take on them. The plan is to do more tours and understand weather conditions," Craig underlined the importance of more foreign tours.
Explaining the strength and weaknesses, Craig said, "I like the turning over that ball and counterattack from this team. I want to focus on defending to win attitude. I would like my team to be more composed under pressure and don't crumble."
"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 opponents 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)," Craig concluded.
India will take on the formidable Belgium and Great Britain in London followed by matches against the Netherlands and Argentina in Eindhoven, the Netherlands in the Europe leg of FIH Hockey Pro League.