Rourkela: Craig Fulton had a short chat with Graham Reid before taking his seat in an empty Birsa Munda Hockey Stadium here to watch Delhi SG Pipers’ practice in the morning.
Feet comfortably placed on the front seats and sporting bright blue shade, the India chief coach sat through the hour-long session before moving to the second pitch of the complex to observe the training of Hyderabad Toofans. The South African attended another practice in the afternoon before watching the Hockey India League (HIL) match late in the evening.
“It’s just really good to watch so many different Indian players amongst the franchise teams because I know a lot of them but I don’t know all of them. I like to watch the trainings and just try and see how the Indian guys are fitting into what role they’re playing,” said the 50-year-old.
“And even better if they’re playing in different positions or asked to do different things. I’m just overlooking and seeing a lot of the juniors in terms of the U-25 and U-21 groups.”
With the new Olympic cycle still in its nascent stage, Fulton has already started building his team with Los Angeles 2028 in mind with particular focus on U-25 players, whom he recently took to Europe for friendly contests in Netherlands and Belgium.
Unlike 2024 which was extremely busy being an Olympic year, this season is relatively lighter but still important with the FIH Pro League, Asia Cup and the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup filling up the calendar.
Significantly, both Pro League and Asia Cup are World Cup qualifiers with the winners making the cut for the August 14-30, 2026, tournament in Wavre and Amstelveen. And given how India has performed in the last two Olympics, winning a bronze each in Tokyo and Paris, the 2026 World Cup is perhaps India’s best chance to medal for the first time since their 1975 World Cup triumph.
“We want to try and get as high up on the podium (in Pro League). We haven’t done (much) results-wise, but then again, here you’re trying to build a new squad. You’re in that situation where you need to bring in some new players, try and find the depth you’re looking for, till the World Cup and Asian Games,” says Fulton, who guided India to their first successive Olympic medal in 52 years at Paris.
“Looking ahead to LA, what squad would you need and build toward that. 2025 also has the Asia Cup where we have to qualify for the World Cup. Once that’s on the cards, we’ll obviously do good preparation for that.”
Unlike the last two World Cups – which were held in Odisha and India qualified as hosts – Harmanpreet Singh & Co will have to fight their way through to Belgium and the Netherlands and would not want to rely on the World Cup qualifying tournaments – the last resort – in early 2026.
With Belgium, Netherlands (both qualified as hosts) and Australia (qualified as 2023-24 Pro League champions), India has a great chance to making the cut via the elite nine-team tournament. If not, they will have to win the Asia Cup (likely to be held in India this year) to qualify.
“With three teams qualified, whoever finishes next, should automatically qualify. It’s all riding there on the line between Great Britain, India, Germany and the next teams. But it’s a mix. Because if you’re trying to do well in the Pro League, you need to choose an experienced team while everyone else is experimenting,” says Fulton.
“But then you lose out on trying new players and getting depth in your squad. The long-term picture is to have enough depth. You’ll have to try and bring in some new players just to make sure you’ve got cover everywhere.”
Barely any time
But the toughest thing for Fulton is the lack of preparation time before India’s Pro League campaign begins. With the league ending on February 1, the India chief coach will barely get a week in camp before facing Spain, England, Ireland and Germany in Bhubaneswar from February 15-25.
“There are 12 games in HIL if you go all the way. There’s a week off and then I have one week’s training before we play eight games in 12 days. It’s kind of mad, isn’t it? HIL coaches get more time than we do in preparation (laughs). That’s just how it is. We’re planning for that,” says Fulton.
“In Asia we have to stay No.1. We have to create depth between us and the rest. That’s the goal. The nice thing is we don’t have to peak right now. We want to build a good foundation and start the four-year plan in the right way.”
