HOCKEY | Australia tour crucial in final stretch to Paris Olympics: Fulton

Indian men’s hockey team prepares for crucial Australia tour ahead of Olympics, coach confident despite historical challenges.

The Indian men’s hockey team will leave for a crucial five-match tour of Australia on Monday as part of its final Olympic preparation, and coach Craig Fulton is aware that history is not in India’s favour but confident that the team is better prepared this time.

“Australia is the form team at the moment, so it’s always nice to test yourself against them. I have had a look at history and there have been some tours to Australia that haven’t gone well,” Fulton told The Hindu in an interaction on the sidelines of the annual Hockey India awards here on Sunday.

“But we are looking to improve that, we want to get some wins in Australia and also see where we are. It comes at a nice time because you have enough time to fix some things or keep doing the right things.”

With less than 120 days left for the Paris Olympics, Fulton admitted there were a lot of good teams in the fray but added that four months were still a long time for things to change.

“I always say there is a realistic goal and an ideal goal — the ideal one is to win any time you play a tournament. But then there is the realistic goal about where we are placed right now.

“We are fourth in the world, there are a lot of good teams and in an Olympic year, teams do more. It’s exciting to see where everyone is now but, four months away, what still needs to be done to actually peak at the right time — that’s what everyone is trying to do,” Fulton explained.

While the Tokyo Olympics ended the medal drought for Indian hockey, it also raised expectations of a repeat three years on and Fulton, denying there was any performance pressure, agreed it helped keep the focus.