NEW DELHI: The Asia Cup is more than simply a regional tournament for the Indian men’s hockey team; it’s a high-stakes qualification event. Craig Fulton, the head coach, says that the competition is the “flagship event” of the year because it is the team’s last chance to get into the FIH Hockey World Cup, which will be held in Belgium and the Netherlands from August 14 to 30, 2026.
India has to win the continental championship to get a direct entry to the World Cup after a dismal showing in the European leg of the Pro League, where they lost seven games in a row. If they don’t do this, the World Cup Qualifiers will be very hard for them.
Fulton was quite clear about the team’s focus when he spoke to the press before the game on Thursday. “This is the most important event of the year for us, so we’re putting everything into this tournament,” he said. “The prize is big—direct qualification—and that’s what we want. If we make it through this round, we’ll have a program for the next year. We haven’t won the event in a long, and our goal is to be the best in Asia. We’ll be working hard for the next ten days.
India, who previously won the Asia Cup in Dhaka in 2017 and came in third in the prior one, will start their campaign against China on Friday.
Fulton said that he and his crew have been working on fixing the “grey areas” that came up during their most recent Pro League campaign. “We were playing good, but we just couldn’t finish in the fourth quarter. “We made chances, but we weren’t as good at penalty corners (PCs) or field goals,” he said. To fix this, the club has been working hard on tactical changes to improve ball possession in the attacking “D” and make their shots more effective in front of the goal. The coach also stressed the need to focus on being strong on defense again, since he knew that giving up goals was a big concern in the Pro League.
Fulton has chosen to use an experienced team instead than bringing in fresh players because they are going to the World Cup. He thinks it would be a bad idea to put younger players through the stress of a qualifying event. “You can get through that with your experience, and then you’ll have a year to bring in younger players,” he said.
The team has hired famous mental conditioning coach Paddy Upton again to help them get ready mentally for the high-pressure atmosphere. Upton, who has worked with the team before at the Paris Olympics, is in charge of making sure that each athlete is mentally ready for the challenges ahead.
The event will take place at Rajgir, Bihar, and India will be in Pool A with Japan, China, and Kazakhstan.