Ahead Of 'Pool Of Death' In Paris Olympics, India Men's Hockey Coach Gives Golden Advice

Head coach Craig Fulton is well aware of the expectations from the Indian men's hockey team in the upcoming Paris Olympics and his mantra to his players is to play the game and not bother the occasion. “I agree that the expectations are higher after Tokyo bronze but the bottom line is that the team has been progressing well. They are in the top eight and from 12th in London (2012) to 8th in Rio (2016) to bronze in Tokyo (2020). It was a big jump and now we are preparing for Paris," the South African coach told PTI Bhasha in an interview.

“My mantra to players is play the game, not the occasion. It's still a hockey match and rules have not changed,” said the former Olympian who has represented his country in 1996 and 2004 Olympics.

He said he's a "process driven" coach and all focus now is on the first game of the Paris Olympics against New Zealand.

"We are training for that and we take one game at a time which is the most realistic way to do it,” said the 50-year-old who was assistant coach of the Belgium team that won the 2018 Men's Hockey World Cup in India.

He did not get a full four-year cycle for the preparation of the team but has no complaints.

"Yeah, you normally have a four year cycle from one Olympics to another to prepare. It's not an excuse but that's how it is. I think we did well in three months to qualify for the Olympics through Asian Games gold. The team is confident and playing well,” said Fulton, a former winner of FIH coach of the year award.

He believes in players who are ready to take a bullet for his teammates and his team bonding methods have yielded good results too. He took the team to South Africa where the players did mountain hiking, surfing, barbeque at the beach, etc.

“I believe that if