BENGALURU: Being the coach of an Indian hockey team at the moment is hardly an enviable job. With the FIH World Cup followed immediately by the Asian Games, Craig Fulton’s side has a packed calendar to negotiate. Add to that the controversy over the change in the team’s jersey colour, which threatened to overshadow their World Cup campaign. The chief coach, however, insists the team is focused, with all its energies channelled towards achieving their first podium finish in 51 years. Excepts…How do you balance the weight of expectation of breaking a 51-year-old medal drought?We come into this World Cup not being the favourites. We are ranked seventh in the world and we’ve got a 5% chance of winning, which is fantastic. We start with all our eggs in the basket against Wales. We’re going to go full in for that game and take it one game at a time. There is no pressure on us. The only pressure is that we want to bring pride back to the World Cup from an Indian perspective, but also write our own piece of World Cup history from an Indian perspective.How was the conditioning camp in Switzerland?We had a team-building camp in Switzerland with mental conditioning specialist Paddy Upton. It was an amazing time together which has helped us set up how we want to operate in the next 3-4 weeks. Obviously we have a different challenge because we have two tournaments back-to-back. So it was about addressing how we manage the highs and lows of both and still come out on top.You had a similar camp before the Paris Olympics…Two things happen when you move out of your own bubble. One, you realise the privilege of playing for your country and the immense pride that you can bring to your nation. You also have a very supportive govt, with SAI and Hockey India wanting the best for everyone in terms of performance. It’s about getting comfortable with the fact that you’ve been chosen for a reason. Also, it was about staying humble and realising that there is a process to be followed and we can’t jump to the final.How does the inclusion of youngsters like Yashdeep Siwach and Aditya Lalage enhance team balance?It is about the balance of youth. It’s not only about results now. (We’re thinking) in terms of the LA Olympics (too). That was the big project with India ‘A’, to try and bring the next group of young, talented Indian players to the international level. Yashdeep and Aditya have been in the group for quite a while now. They’ve played almost two seasons with the Pro League and have taken their opportunity well. Also, they are fit, strong and bring a different dynamic.Have dragflick specialists like Rajinder Singh and Sanjay eased the pressure on Harmanpreet Singh?Harman got to a point where he took 80% of the penalty corners. He had 10 goals in Paris with penalty corners. That’s huge amount of responsibility. If we can place 2-3 other players around him, it doesn’t always depend on him. That’s what we’ve been trying to build for the last 18 months since Paris. We’re starting to get some traction there.Defence has been the best form of attack for India…It continues to do that. It evolves. We’re also very comfortable pressing. It’s another form of defence. We high-press and try to turn over the ball in the opposition half and then counter-attack from there.Our press-counter-perform philosophy has also evolved from the defendto-win approach. They’re very similar in the sense that you need a very good defence to survive at the international level. Even if you’re not scoring, as long as you’re not conceding, you stay in the game. But if you only have the all-out offensive and you’re not scoring and you can’t defend, then you lose games. This has been proven through the Paris Olympics.How do you view the league games, especially the one against Pakistan?Apart from Wales, we also play England and Pakistan in the league phase. We played both teams in the Pro League. We’re quite happy with our pool just because we know the opposition. England are always a threat. We match up nicely against each other. Anytime we play Pakistan, it is exciting. That team is rebuilding. The match will improve the rivalry. There’s never a dull moment in a game against them.
