World Cup berth sealed, Indian hockey to focus on team depth

Having dominated the continent for the past two years, India had entered the tournament as overwhelming favourites. Though they stuttered at the start, the team grew into the tournament and won, earning qualification for the 2026 World Cup in the Netherlands and Belgium. “It was important to get it out of the way, right?” Fulton told HT.

- Sandip Sikdar

For Fulton’s team, the next real targets are about a year away — World Cup and Asian Games. With the kind of success Fulton has had with India in the last two years, expectations are high of the South African delivering the country’s first World Cup medal since 1975. Less than three weeks later are the Asian Games that will be a qualifier for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics. Every tournament in between will be about building the team for those two events.

“We're just getting there. There are two types of hockey — Asian and European. All the power rests in Europe in a way, and obviously Australia. We're trying to build something here so that we can have depth in what we do. Then we can go and challenge other teams in Europe.”