India Head Coach Craig Fulton Reveals India's LA 2028 Blueprint After Historic Asian Games Gold

The Indian men's hockey team successfully defended their Asian Games crown for the very first time in the sport's history at Aichi-Nagoya two days ago, defeating Malaysia 5-1 in the final. With this victory, the Harmanpreet Singh-led team also secured direct qualification for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games. Head coach of the Indian men's national team, Craig Fulton, said that LA 2028 is not far away and that once the Hockey India League (HIL) gets over, he will have to build a new team afresh.

This will include infusing more young faces into the squad in order to strike a fine balance between youth and experience, according to a press release by the Sports Authority of India (SAI).

“LA 2028 is within two years. It seems a long way off, but it obviously comes around pretty quick. I think at the moment we're just trying to get the right schedule, the right planning in place, the big blocks of what the preparation looks like two years out, one year out and six months out, and plan accordingly. Yeah, I think every team has its phases and flows with experience and youth. We have a good group of experienced players with us now,” Craig Fulton said.

“We have some youth, but we have a lot of youth in the Indian A team and a strong Under-21 team as well, which is great. So in the next two-three months, post the Hockey India League, we'll have a look at all the talent that we have, choose a new squad and start afresh from there,” the 51-year-old added.

This was the fifth gold medal overall for the Indian men's hockey team in the continental sports extravaganza after the 1966 Bangkok, 1998 Bangkok, 2014 Incheon and 2022 Hangzhou editions.

Fulton, who represented South Africa at the 1996 and 2004 Summer Olympic Games, said defending back-to-back gold medals was always special.

“Personally, this Asian Games was very unique. It was very different from the last Asian Games as we were isolated out here in the sense that we were away from the other events and athletes. There was no so-called Games Village. But at the same time, we had our own routine. We went to the field, we played, we came back, and everything was the same. Hangzhou, being the first gold medal, was very special. But to come back and defend it with back-to-back golds is always special,” he said.

India edged past arch-rivals Pakistan 4-3 by scoring in the dying minutes of the match at the Gifu Prefectural Green Stadium after squandering a 3-0 lead. Captain Harmanpreet Singh (5', 13') and Sukhjeet Singh (23') gave India a 3-0 lead, but Abu Mahmood (30'), Hannan Shahid (45') and Waheed Rana (49') brought Pakistan back on level terms. It was Abhishek who scored in the final minute of the match to take India into the men's final.

“Everything did go according to plan. We had a really good first half, and then the third quarter was difficult. Pakistan is the kind of team that if you give them any free opportunities, they take them, and they are a great side. They showed that. They came back nicely and put us under a lot of pressure from 3-0 to 3-all. We still had some good chances in that period, but we couldn't finish, we couldn't score. We found a way in the last minute to do so and get the fourth goal, which helped us make the final,” Fulton said.

The feat was a first-ever double-gold finish for the men's and women's hockey teams at the Asian Games. It was only the third Indian team sport to achieve a double-gold finish after kabaddi and cricket at Aichi-Nagoya.

The turnaround was fuelled by SAI's support of INR 77.8 crore for both the men's and women's hockey teams, including national coaching camps, international competition exposure, remuneration for foreign coaches and equipment support, among others.

“I think the government is our biggest supporter in terms of the resources and funds it provides to help grassroots programmes all the way through to the Under-18, Under-21 and senior levels. Without that support, obviously, I don't know what would happen. At the same time, the girls stood on the podium winning gold for the first time in 44 years, and we're fortunate enough to go back-to-back. Yes, that's domination in Asia,” he said.

“We obviously want to do that on the world stage. The women had a fantastic World Cup, and the men obviously had a fantastic Paris. So the balance is there. The resources are there. But the main thing is we have to keep pushing forward to find talent and expose it on the international platform,” he signed off.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

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