Since his appointment in 2023, head coach Craig’s workhorse-like attitude has maintained India’s dominance in the continent, winning the Asian Champions Trophy, Asian Games, and Asia Cup
India head coach Craig Fulton (centre) takes a selfie with his team after their Asia Cup success in Rajgir, Bihar, on Sunday. Pic/Jaspreet Singh
Just before India’s opening game of the Asia Cup, during one of the training sessions at the Rajgir Sports Complex, coach Craig Fulton was very animated while deciding the structure, meticulously instructing players on the D-top in short-corner drills. The 50-year-old South African has brought that workhorse-like attitude to the set-up ever since his appointment in March 2023. And it has yielded results for the team, while adding more bullet points to his impressive CV. The latest in that list of achievements is winning the Asia Cup, which ensured Fulton will be at his first World Cup as India
coach next year.
‘We got stronger’
“A good tournament for us; seven games in 10 days is no easy feat,” said Fulton after India beat South Korea 4-1 in the final on Sunday to win their fourth Asia Cup title. “I think physically we did really, really well. Even though [the first] two games we didn’t finish as strong as we would have liked, but as we acclimatised, we got stronger and stronger; and last night [beating Malaysia 4-1] and tonight showed what we can do.”
India dethroned Korea without facing a defeat in the tournament, winning six and drawing one match.
It may not appear staggering that India haven’t lost to an Asian team since May 2022, simply because the gap that started widening pre-Covid turned into a valley in the post-Covid era. But Fulton was already looking at the bigger picture when he arrived two years ago.
India had returned to the Olympic podium after 41 years under Graham Reid, who resigned after the 2023 World Cup debacle. Replacing the Australian, Fulton had just six months to prepare the team for the Asian Games, but his coaching experience was loaded to pull it off.
He was first hailed as coach when he helped Ireland’s men qualify for the 2016 Rio Olympics — a first for the Irish team in 108 years. That and a bronze medal at the 2015 EuroHockey Championships was recognised by the FIH, naming him the Coach of the Year in 2015.
Strong coaching history
His coaching skills got fine-tuned when he moved to Belgium in 2018 and assisted Shane McLeod, who was at the helm for the Red Lions. They won the 2018 World Cup and Fulton was still with them when they clinched gold at the Tokyo Olympics and a silver at the 2023 World Cup.
He, thus, came well prepared for India. He kept India’s Asian dominance intact – first by winning the 2023 ACT and then the Asian Games gold to qualify for the Paris Olympics. He was playing his cards intelligently, an example of which is bringing in mental conditioning coach Paddy Upton at important junctures like the Paris Games and here in Rajgir. As things stand after winning the Asia Cup here, India have become the first team to simultaneously hold the Asian Games, Asia Cup and Asian Champions Trophy titles. But if one were to pick a moment where his character and skills as a coach shone through, it was the quarter-final against Great Britain in Paris, where India drew 1-1 after being reduced to 10 men in just the 17th minute. Fulton’s team used their head and heart to guard their citadel with a man down for 43 minutes and then win in the shootout.
It appears that blocking the outside noise comes naturally to Fulton, and it’s working well for Indian hockey too.
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India are the first team to simultaneously hold the Asian Games, Asia Cup and Asian Champions Trophy titles
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