Team India coach Graham Reid left his post after the Hockey World Cup 2022. Since then Team India was looking for a new coach.
Image Credit source: Twitter/Hockey India
New Delhi. Before the FIH Pro League, the Indian men’s hockey team has got a new coach. Tokyo Olympics Craig Fulton of South Africa, who was the assistant coach of champion Belgium, has been appointed as the new coach. The then coach Graham Reid resigned after the Indian team could not even reach the quarter-finals in the World Cup held in Bhubaneswar and Rourkela in January. India won the bronze medal after 41 years in the Tokyo Olympics when Reid was the coach.
Hockey India made this announcement on Friday ahead of the home matches of the FIH Hockey Pro League from March 10. Fulton, 48, from South Africa, has nearly 25 years of coaching experience and will join the team as soon as the formalities are completed. India was looking for a new coach since the World Cup.
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Fulton has been associated with the Belgian team
Fulton, 48, has been the assistant coach of the Belgian team that won the title in the Tokyo Olympics 2020. He was also part of the support staff of the Belgium team that won the 2018 World Cup in Bhubaneswar. He was the head coach of the Irish men’s team between 2014 and 2018 when the team qualified for the 2016 Rio Olympics. He was also voted FIH Coach of the Year in 2015 as the first Irish team in a hundred years to qualify for the Olympics.
Fulton was voted the best coach of Belgium in 2023 as the Belgian club won the Belgian league title under his coach. As a player, he played 195 international matches for South Africa in a decade’s journey. Apart from the Atlanta Olympics 1996 and Athens Olympics 2004, he also participated in the World Cup and Commonwealth Games for South Africa.
Dilip Tirkey welcomed
Welcoming Fulton’s appointment, Hockey India President Dilip Tirkey said in a statement: “It gives me immense pleasure to announce that Hockey India has appointed Craig Fulton as the head coach for the Indian men’s team.” I have played against him and will now work with him in the new era of the Indian team. He has immense experience and his style of working instills confidence in the teams. I welcome him to India. While Fulton said, it is an honor to be the head coach of the Indian hockey team. India has a golden history in hockey and I want to take the current team which has many talented players to new heights.
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