Asia Cup is the “flagship event” of the year for Indian men’s hockey team chief coach Craig Fulton since it the last chance for his team to qualify for next year’s World Cup.
Having failed to qualify for the World Cup through the Pro League after a dismal campaign in the European leg, India need to win the continental championship to book their ticket to World Cup, to be hosted jointly by Belgium and the Netherlands from August 14 to 30 next year.
India will open their Asia Cup campaign against China on Friday.
“This is our flagship event of the year, so we are putting everything in this tournament. We want to grow in the tournament but at the same time the prize is big, direct qualification and that’s what we are after,” Fulton said during the pre-match press conference on Thursday. “If you qualify from here we will have a year’s programme set. We haven’t won the tournament for a while and the objective is to be No.1 in Asia and we will be pushing hard for the next 10 days,” the coach added.
India last won the Asia Cup eight years ago in Dhaka in 2017 and finished third in the last edition.
Fulton said he has worked on the grey areas which he had identified during the European leg of Pro League.
“We had some really close games in the Pro League but the results didn’t go our way. We were playing well, we just couldn’t finish in the fourth quarter. We created chances but we were not as efficient as with PCs or field goals.
“But we had a really good training camp. We have put a lot of emphasis on tactics like how to get the ball more into the D and create scoring chances and be a bit more effective on the scoreboard.
“Obviously we will have to have the level of defence from the team. If we are scoring goals and then also conceding goals you don’t win games. So that was the problem which was happening in the Pro League. So we have put real emphasis these areas.” The South African said with World Cup berth at stake he went for experience rather than infusing fresh blood in the side.
“We had a big squad, 24 (in Australia tour). Some younger players came into the squad so they needed games. So the first two games was about giving opportunity to younger players and game 3 and 4 was selection for the Asia Cup. It was competitive.
“It would not be wise in my opinion to expose younger players in a qualifying tournament. Use your experience to get through that and then you will have one year to blood in younger players,” Fulton insisted.
Understanding the significance of the tournament, India have again availed the services of renowned mental conditioning coach Paddy Upton, who have worked with the side in Paris Olympics.
“It’s pretty specific, it’s to connect with individual players. We had a really good build up to Paris and then not so much contact with Paddy as we were building the squad.
“And now it is qualifier so we are using those resources to qualify. Paddy is fully responsible for the mental approach and mindset of the team,” Fulton said.
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