South African Craig Fulton Becomes Head Coach of Indian Men’s Hockey Team  

New Delhi: Hockey India has appointed South Africa’s Craig Fulton as the coach of the Indian men’s hockey team.  Hockey India announced it ahead of the Indian team’s home matches in the FIH Hockey Pro League starting from 10th March.

The 48-year-old South African has 25 years of coaching experience. He will join the team after completing the formalities. Fulton rose to fame when he as the head coach of the Irish Men’s Team could steer it to qualify for the Rio Olympic Games 2016. This was the Irish team’s first Olympic qualification in 100 years. This historic feat also won him the FIH Coach of the Year in 2015.

He also served as the Assistant Coach with the reigning Olympic Champions Belgium, and the Belgium team won the gold medal in Tokyo. He was also part of the Belgian Coaching Staff when the team lifted the World title in 2018, in Bhubaneswar. Fulton was named Belgium Coach of the Year 2023 after coaching the Belgium club which won the Belgium League.

He took Belgium’s national team to World No. 3 position in 2023 from World No.5 in 2018.

As an international hockey player representing South Africa, Fulton has 195 international caps over a span of 10 years. He was in the South African team that played at Atlanta Olympics 1996 and Athens Olympics 2004. He has also played at the World Cup and Commonwealth Games.