Barely two weeks into his new role as head coach of Indian men's hockey team, South African Craig Fulton is pretty clear about his goals -- to make the side number one in Asia and qualify for next year's Olympics in Paris.
Fulton, who witnessed the rise of Belgium hockey since 2018, wants India to first dominate Asian hockey and then gradually translating it into the world stage. "What I have in my head is to be the no.1 team in Asia.
Definitely, it is one of the goals which we want to achieve and be there consistently and then push because if we are sitting on world ranking 4 and 5, you need to consistently try to reach the podium," Fulton said in his first media interaction, held virtually. "When you have built enough experience and have a game plan which suits all the individuals then you can definitely push on to get into the finals and win them. "The priority is to qualify for Paris Olympics through the Asian Games.
This is our no.1 priority. By using the FIH Pro League, the four-nation in Spain and then the Asian Champions Trophy we want to really set us up to be strong and be in a position to qualify straightway," he added.