All in one? Fulton bats for same team

new delhi: Indian men’s hockey chief coach Craig Fulton on Friday said that the same team will play in this year’s FIH World Cup and Asian Games, dismissing suggestions that two different squads will represent the country due to the close proximity of the two important events.

He insisted that he will have one squad and the selections will “base around that”.

As the World Cup and the Asian Games are just three weeks apart, there was speculation that India is planning to field two different teams to manage player fitness and workload.

While the World Cup will be held in Belgium and the Netherlands from August 15 to 30, the Asian Games, which is an Olympic qualifier, is scheduled to be held in Japan from September 19 till October 4.

“No, we are going to have one squad and we are going to base it around that,” Fulton said on the sidelines of the eighth Hockey India Annual Awards here on Friday.