LA 2028: India men’s coach Fulton looks to infuse young blood for Olympics

• Craig Fulton plans to assess fresh talent after the Hockey India League in December.

• India’s men and women win hockey gold at the Aichi Nagoya Asian Games.

• Fulton targets sustained international success ahead of the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics.

The Asian Games done and dusted with back-to-back gold medals, the Indian men’s team will now focus on building a new core for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games. The Aichi Nagoya Asiad edition will be remembered as a historic one for Indian hockey, as the men’s and women’s teams won a ‘double’ for the first time, as they have in cricket and kabaddi.

Craig Fulton, the South African coach of the men’s team who was the brains behind their bronze-medal finish in Paris in 2024, said he would look to inject fresh blood into the side soon after the Hockey India League in December. The Asian Games gold may have pushed talk of ageism under the carpet for a while, but the men’s dismal eighth-place finish at the FIH World Cup in August must still be hurting him.

Speaking to SAI media earlier this week, Fulton said: “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 is like — two years out, one year out, six months out — and plan accordingly to that.

“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,” he 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, I think just post the HIL, we’ll have a look at all the talent that we have to 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 at the continental showpiece, following victories in 1966, 1998, 2014 and 2022.

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 a sense, away from the other events and athletes. There was no so-called Games Village, but at the same time, we had our own routine.”

Praising Hockey India and the Union sports ministry for their support, the men’s head coach said: “I think the government is our biggest supporter in terms of the resources and the funds that they put forward to helping the grassroots programmes all the way through to the 18s, 21s, seniors. Without them, obviously, I don't know what would happen if they didn't put as much support and resources around. But at the same time, by doing that, the girls stand on the podium, winning gold for the first time in 44 years. We’re fortunate enough to go back to back.

“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 just got to keep pushing forward to find the talent and expose it on the international platform,” he signed off.