Senior figures like Sumit, Mandeep Singh, Amit Rohidas and Jarmanpreet Singh are expected to make their final appearances for the Indian national team in the Asian Champions Trophy which kicks-off today
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File photo of Craig Fulton and Harmanpreet Singh(Photo: IANS)
Indian men’s hockey team head coach Craig Fulton has confirmed that the team management will choose a young set of players for the national side after the conclusion of the 2026 Asian Champions Trophy which starts today in JalandharIndia enter as overwhelming favourites and they will be vying to claim their record sixth ACT title.
The team is coming on the back of a gold medal win at the 2026 Asian Games in the Japanese cities of Aichi and NagoyaIndia finished at the top of the podium without losing a single game and they were absolutely exceptional offensively, scoring more than 40 goals across the tournament.
India will take on a lot of familiar Asian teams they faced in the continental showpiece earlier this monthThe squad is relatively the same, but four players – Sumit, Mandeep Singh, Amit Rohidas and Jarmanpreet Singh – are in line to make their final appearances for the national side.
The team management is determined to get rid of some experienced names and welcome new young faces after the ACTHead coach Craig Fulton revealed his plans ahead of the six-team tournament, stating that he is hoping to fuse youth and experience smoothly together.
He did talk about the difficult in removing experienced names and expect youngsters to hit the gas right away“It’s not easy to just remove your experience in key positions and expect the next group of players to pick it up exactly where you left offYou’re looking at experience and youth together,” Craig Fulton told the Indian Express.
Fulton refused to comment on the four outgoings from the national team but confirmed that a number of senior players will be rested and a young squad will travel to New Zealand for three matches“A lot of the senior guys will be given a rest, and we’ll choose a younger squad to go through to New Zealand,” Craig Fulton said.
After the New Zealand tour, the squad will come together for the Hockey India League before Fulton picks his squad for the FIH Pro League on home soil“Then everyone comes together for the Hockey India League, we choose our squad, and we play the Pro League in India in February with the new squad,” Fulton added.
With no major tournaments coming up in 2027, Craig Fulton also revealed that he will try to get as many as possible in order to implement his ideas.
“There are no tournaments except for the Pro League, so we need to fill that gap with training gamesWe need to get back to doing the basics well, reinforce the way we want to play, give opportunities to different players and see if we can put the right combinations together and still get the right outcomes,” Craig Fulton concluded.
Meanwhile, Fulton will turn his attention to the Asian Champions Trophy 2026 as India begin their campaign tonight against Bangladesh in Jalandhar.
