CHENNAI: When Craig Fulton started as the head coach of the Indian men's hockey team late in April 2023, he was equipped with everything he needed to make the squad his own. His first big assignment, the Asian Games in China, where India had the opportunity to book their direct ticket to Paris, was only four months away. Cut to the present, Fulton is almost one and a half years into his tenure with India bagging the Asian Games gold medal, winning the Asian Champions Trophy on home soil and defending their Tokyo 2020 bronze medal in Paris. Aptly, Fulton has one word to describe his time with the team: Rewarding.
"Honestly, it has been rewarding," Fulton told The New Indian Express. "We came in and didn't have a lot of time ahead of the Asian Games. We just had three to four months to select a new team and get everyone on track. We had quite a difficult time in 2024 till the Olympics because we had to face quite a lot of competitions, the same time we were still selecting our squad and trying to find our best combination. The time after (series against) Australia was difficult, but I knew we were close. It is a great reward to come out of the Games with a bronze medal," Fulton mentioned.
Heading into the Olympics, the tour of South Africa had ended with a 1-5 loss against the world no 1, Netherlands. The five-match series against Australia ended up with India suffering a 5-0 clean sweep. There were a few questions with no official fixtures till the Olympics. Once the gala started in Paris, Harmanpreet Singh's team had to hit the ground running. Fulton believes the first two matches in the pool stage were a blessing in disguise for his team. By his own admission, they did not play their best hockey yet the results going India's way were a huge relief. It acted like a turning point.
"The turning point was that we had to do well in the first two games. We didn't play our best hockey, but we had to get results. I knew, if we got seven points, we would make the quarterfinals. Then that meant Game 4 against Belgium and Game 5 against Australia, we can have a free go. There was no pressure on us. In the game against Belgium, we played well. We let in two soft goals by our standard. I think we gave Belgium too much respect. After that, we went straight into the Australia game feeling we were playing well. We have to continue with the same brand, but not give away any soft goals. And we did that. Those two games were the catalyst," Fulton underlined the importance of starting well.
Then, the infamous game against Great Britain came along and India had to implement coach Fulton's tried and tested method of 'defend to win' once defender Amit Rohidas was shown a red card in the first quarter. Fulton believes that the match was once in a lifetime experience for everyone involved and he was exceptionally happy with how his team responded on the go.
"Over the last 14 months, my philosophy has been "defend to win" and defend to counterattack. Now, suddenly we had to defend for 42 minutes. On the other side of that, we score a goal. Vivek Sagar Prasad had awesome skills to win a penalty corner. Then Harmanpreet delivered. Again. Now we had something to really defend. It was just a great game of hockey. Kind of a once in a lifetime game. Because it happened in the quarterfinal, so much was riding on it. As soon as we got to 1-1, I knew we were going to win that game. There is no way we have done that much defending as a team that we were not going to be able to finish it all." One can still hear the relief in his voice.
However, the semifinal game against Germany put every possible obstacle in Fulton and company's way. Courageous efforts in the final few minutes of the game were not enough for India to make it to the final and fight for the gold medal. Fulton's message was clear: No matter what, we are winning our final game in the Olympics. "(Semifinal) That's the Olympics. It is so tough. It could have gone either way even in the final seconds of the game. The debrief of that game was more factual. We agreed that we were going to win our last game. If we had won the semifinal, we wanted to win our last game, if we lost the semifinal, we wanted to win our last game. That was made clear beforehand. Otherwise, you end up going over a cliff and you are too worried about what happens in the semifinal. So that was clear. No emotions, just facts. We had a good plan and the boys executed it well to get that reward." The plan was clear and in came the bronze medal.
When asked where this medal ranks for him, Fulton chuckled before admitting it was special. "It is up there. It is one of my favourite moments. To win a medal and see the team on the podium, it is satisfying." With the Asian Champions Trophy coming in, the coach has his job cut out for him. And like the past, he will expect his team to deliver yet again.
Sony Sports Network is the official broadcaster for the Hero Asian Champions Trophy. Watch the matches Live on Sony Sports TEN 1 SD & HD from 8th September to 17th September.