“We’ve got 5℅ chance”, Head Coach Craig Fulton embraces India’s underdog tag ahead of World Cup

Kolkata: India may head into the upcoming FIH Hockey World Cup 2026 as underdogs, but head coach Craig Fulton believes that is exactly where his team wants to be.

The Indian men’s hockey team is currently ranked eighth in the world and will arrive at the tournament in Belgium and the Netherlands without the favourites tag. For Fulton, that could work in India’s favour.

“It’s always very difficult to win a World Cup on home soil, let’s be honest. India showed it’s very difficult to perform in its own World Cup,” Fulton told.

“But now that the World Cup has moved and it’s in Belgium and Holland, let the pressure fall on them to win. And we come in as underdogs, we can come in under the radar.”

India hosted the last two Hockey World Cup tournaments but were eliminated in the quarter-finals in 2018 and finished ninth in the 2023 edition.

India have won the Hockey World Cup just once – in 1975 in Kuala Lumpur in – 51 years ago.

Fulton, however, is comfortable with expectations being lower this time.

“We’re not ranked very highly, so I don’t think too many people are thinking there’s much going to come from India. I think we’ve got like a five per cent chance,” he said. “But that’s exactly where we want to be, and it’s a good position to be in.”

Fulton also wants his players to view the pressure of competing at a World Cup differently.

“We’re also linking it to privilege,” he said. “The privilege that we have to play in a World Cup, to represent India, to have the chance to write your own piece of Indian World Cup history.

“So, there’s a massive upside. No one’s going to die. You know, if we don’t play well in a hockey match, no one dies. Pressure is not being able to put food on the table, not being able to support your family, that’s real pressure.

“So, we have a privilege. We’ve got everything we need and we have an amazing opportunity.”

While India’s world ranking provides a measure of where they currently stand, Fulton believes the team is capable of performing above it.

“We can all dream big, but when you dream, there’s risk to everything. So, we’ve calculated our risks,” he said. “We have an ideal goal, we want to win every tournament. And then there’s a realistic goal of our ranking, where we are currently in the world.

“I know we’re playing better than our ranking. Our ranking suggests we’re eighth. So, we may not make it. But that’s the beauty of sport.”

Fulton pointed to the Paris 2024 Olympics as evidence of what India can achieve when the odds appear stacked against them.

“There are lots of things that happen in a head-to-head match. I just remember the Olympics clearly. We had a very similar outlook,” Fulton said.

“We had lost five (of seven) games against Australia and then beat Australia in the Olympics for the first time in 52 years. So, there’s lots of things that can happen.”

India eventually won bronze after narrowly losing their Olympic semi-final to Germany and beating Spain in the medal playoff.

“We have that experience. We have looked at our game, made some changes in the areas that we need to improve, and we’re really excited about this opportunity.

“So, yeah, let’s dream big.”

The next two months will be the most important period for the Indian hockey team until the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics. With the World Cup (August 15-30) and Asian Games (September 19-October 4) slated together, Harmanpreet Singh and Co are in for a hectic and tough time.

But at the helm, Fulton will be the one controlling the entire show. He is not just eyeing India’s first World Cup medal in 51 years but is also aiming to maintain India’s status as the undisputed No.1 in Asia.

“We want to write our own piece of World Cup history from an Indian perspective,”, that’s the mindset before Fulton will head with Indian team in World Cup.