Fulton focuses on World Cup qualification

Craig Fulton had a short chat with Graham Reid before taking his seat in an empty Birsa Munda Hockey Stadium here to watch Delhi SG Pipers' practice in the morning.

- Sandip Sikdar

ROURKELA: Craig Fulton had a short chat with Graham Reid before taking his seat in an empty Birsa Munda Hockey Stadium here to watch Delhi SG Pipers' practice in the morning.

Feet comfortably placed on the front seats and sporting bright blue shades, the India chief coach sat through the hour-long session before moving to the second pitch of the complex to observe the training of Hyderabad Toofans. The South African attended another practice in the afternoon before watching the Hockey India League (HIL) match late in the evening.

"It's just really good to watch so many different Indian players amongst the franchise teams because I know a lot of them but I don't know all of them. I like to watch the trainings and just try and see how the Indian guys are fitting into what role they're playing," said the 50-year-old.

"And even better if they're playing in different positions or asked to do different things. I'm just overseeing and seeing a lot of the juniors in terms of the U-25 and U-21 groups."

With the new Olympic cycle still in its nascent stage, Fulton has already started building his team with Los Angeles 2028 in mind, with particular focus on U-25 players whom he recently took to Europe for friendly contests in Netherlands and Belgium.