By Sahil Kohli

Bengaluru (Karnataka) [India], November 15 (ANI): Indian men's hockey head coach Craig Fulton spoke on resting key players during the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup starting from November 23 onwards, saying that the idea is to give youngsters some international tournament exposure and give the big players some rest ahead of a big 2026, during which FIH Hockey World Cup and Asian Games, a direct qualifier for Los Angeles 2028 Olympics, will take place.

Fulton was speaking to ANI via a Zoom interaction. Sanjay will lead the Indian squad for the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup, a tournament that India has won five times. Some massive names are missing from the squad, such as skipper Harmanpreet Singh, Jarmanpreet Singh, Hardik Singh, and Mandeep Singh, among others.

Speaking to ANI about the team selection, Fulton said that the India A has been to China and Europe, and plenty of players from that squad are featuring in the tournament.

'So, they need to get tournament exposure, and they need to be able to, you know, see how they cope as younger internationals playing in a major tournament. So, it is nice that this tournament comes along, and we can give these opportunities to younger players. Still with some of the senior players. But we are, like you said, resting a lot more of the senior squad,' he said.

Regarding the preparations for the tournament, Fulton stated that the team has had a successful three-week camp and has also played two matches against the India U21 team.

'The team is building, we are on track and in a good place,' he added.

Regarding Sanjay receiving the captaincy armband, the head coach stated that he has captained the India A team in three tournaments, and it is essential to have a youngster learn leadership skills and be able to 'hold the court' with the team.

'He captained India A in three tournaments, three tours. The last one against China had four games. So it is also essential to have a young and upcoming player learn leadership skills and be able to hold the court with his team and call the tactics, and make the on-field and off-field decisions. The more leaders we have in the group, the better we will be long-term in a major tournament. So, this is also part of his grooming,' he added.

Fulton said that this year has been a big one for India as they secured the Asia Cup title and hence, a direct qualification to next year's Hockey WC. He also said that the reason for resting big players is that the next year is really big, with the World Cup and Asian Games, a qualifier for the LA 2028 Olympics, taking place.

'It is the 50th anniversary of the last time an Indian men's team won the World Cup (in 1975). It's a nice target for us to strive to be as good and competitive as possible in 2026. However, we also have the Asia Games, which serve as our main qualifier for the LA Games. So, 2026 is a big year. A little background on resting some key players is that 2026 is a big year. But also then strengthening the depth in the squad by allowing other players to play. And then we would select our World Cup and Asia Games squads,' he added.

On giving the Indian Hockey, which completed 100 years of its existence and fans the perfect gift by winning the upcoming tournaments and events, including the World Cup and Asian Games, Fulton said that the team is looking at 'things that can be controlled'.

'We have got to have a realistic approach and an ideal approach. The ideal approach is to win the World Cup and the Asia Games. And realistically, it is going to be super tricky to do both. But it is not impossible,' he said.

We have the squad. We have shown that we could play up against any team and beat any team on our day. So, it is just a matter of getting consistency. We have got a good recipe in Asia, where we found a nice rhythm in the Asia competitions. But that's all in the past. We have still got to go and do it again.'

'So, yeah, there is still a lots of work to do. And we have no doubt about being fully committed to trying to win the World Cup and to win the Asia Games,' he concluded.