Hockey India has confirmed the appointment of South African Craig Fulton as the chief coach for the Men’s national team. Fulton has nearly 25 years of coaching experience and will join the Men in Blue ahead of the team's home matches in the FIH Hockey Pro League starting from 10th March.
The 48-year-old previously coached the Irish Men's Team between 2014 to 2018 when they qualified for the Rio Olympic Games 2016. It was Ireland's first Olympic qualification in 100 years and this achievement helped him win the FIH Coach of the Year in 2015.
After his stint with Ireland, he worked as the Assistant Coach with the reigning Olympic Champions Belgium, which won the gold medal in Tokyo. He was also part of the Belgian side which won the World title in 2018, in Bhubaneswar. Recently, Fulton also bagged the Belgium Coach of the Year award for 2023 as his club, which won the Belgian League.
Talking about the new role, Craig Fulton stated that he is excited about this new opportunity and hopes to take forward the rich history of Indian hockey. He said, “It is an honour to be appointed in the role of Chief Coach for the Indian Men’s Hockey team. India has a deep history and legacy of the sport and I look forward to working to take this forward with the current team which has some very promising talent.”
President of Hockey India Padma Shri Dr Dilip Tirkey also spoke about Fulton’s appointment and said, “I am very pleased to state that Hockey India has finalised Craig Fulton for the Chief Coach’s role with the Indian Men’s Hockey team. I have had the honour of playing against him and now I look forward to closely working with him in this new phase for the Men’s Hockey team.”
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