Lucknow, India defended its gold medal in style at the just-concluded Asian Games but men’s team head coach Craig Fulton still rates the bronze medal finish at the Paris Olympics as the most satisfying achievement during his current tenure.
We draw the game with Great Britain and get a shootout win in the quarters. The Indian men’s hockey team defeated Australia 3-2 at the Paris Olympics, ending a 52-year Olympic win drought against the Kookaburras. “Then we go 10 men down and we managed to get a shootout win. And then we play a really good game against Germany in the semifinals and just lose 3-2.”
“Most satisfying moment is probably the Paris Olympics in a way of how we had stuck to our structures and our processes, even though we were losing games in the FIH Pro League and losing games against Australia before the Paris Olympics,” Fulton told PTI in an exclusive interview.
We knew the World Cup was there, we had bold aspirations to do well in the World Cup but unfortunately that didn’t happen. But he said his big goal in 2026 was always the Asian Games to ensure a direct to 2028 Los Angeles Olympics. “I just think it was a really honest look at what we wanted to achieve in 2026. Our main goal in 2026 was the Asian Games gold and we wanted to make our own piece of Indian hockey history by defending the title and going back-to-back and winning both golds,’ he said.
That’s why it was easier to take one squad of players, 22 squad of players, bring them to Holland, train everyone there while we were playing in the World Cup. Fulton emphasised upon the need for transition in Indian men’s team looking forward to LA 2028 and said it will start from the Asian Champions Trophy to be held in Mohali and Jalandhar from October 27 to November 5. “Well, you see, if you have a different team or a different tournament, who’s going to coach them? Who’s going to prepare them? who’s coaching this group of players with the same tactics, with the same mindset and what we’re trying to do While I am at the World Cup.
Fulton said he decided to stick to his core team for both the World Cup and the Asian Games was a conscious decision, even though there were hardly three weeks between the two events. The other boys were still training,” Fulton said.
