Bigger talent pool will give head coach more opportunity to rotate players without burnout in an important year like 2026 that features the Commonwealth Games; World Cup and the Asian Games.  

Navneet Singh

Hockey India (HI) on Thursday announced a 33-member core probable group for the senior men’s national coaching camp. However, given the workload this season, a bigger pool of core group of players to pick from would have kept the players fresh.

A bigger talent pool would not only strengthen the second bench, but also give more opportunity to head coach Craig Fulton to test players in one position. There are three major tournaments this year—Commonwealth Games; World Cup and Asian Games. The Asian Games is also a qualifier for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.

The World Cup will be competitive too. The national men’s head coach has his task cut out.  The national men’s team last won the World Cup in 1975! And despite playing hosts to the senior men’s World Cup on home soil in the recent past, the Indian team wasn’t successful in winning a medal.

Asian Games has always been important for hockey discipline as the winner gets automatic qualification for the Olympic Games. This time it will be a ticket to the 2028 Los Angeles Games in the USA. 

Winning back-to-back bronze medals at the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games and 2024 Paris Olympic Games has certainly brought recognition to hockey in the country. But to sustain that effort, a blueprint should have been chalked out on priority soon after the Paris Olympics to prepare for the 2028 Los Angeles Games.

 This week, HI rested some of the senior hockey players for the national camp, including midfielder Manpreet Singh ahead of the 2026 FIH Pro League matches. The players were given a break according to the HI statement on the pretext to avoid overload or burnout. The above policy at this time of the year hints the hockey federation needs to do a lot of catching up if the main goal is podium finish at 2026 World Cup (men) in Europe and gold medal at the Asian Games in September. 

In a country where national camps are funded by the central government (Sports Ministry), it makes the job of the federation— easier to focus on development. HI should have prepared a vision draft and got financial approval of the sports ministry— to increase the strength of the players in the camp in the Asian Games cycle.

Having an excellent main team and equally good second bench will put less pressure on the coach in case of an injury or unforeseen incident to key players. At the same time players will be more competitive to earn a berth in the main team and will automatically maintain good fitness.

HI think-tank, from time to time, do revise policies for development of hockey in the country, but sometimes it doesn’t trickle down to grassroots level.

Or the development isn’t visible. Policies are directly or indirectly correlated to good and sustained results at the global level as the government is spending huge money on international exposure; coaching camps and salary of coaching staff, including foreign experts.

EOM