NEW DELHI, Aug. 8 -- Indian men's hockey team chief coach Craig Fulton endured a frustrating time in Europe, watching his wards lose seven successive games in the FIH Pro League in June. It meant they wasted a golden chance to qualify for the 2026 World Cup from the elite nine-team event, in the end just about avoiding relegation by finishing eighth. But Fulton isn't too worried by the "disappointing" results. Belgium's 2018 World Cup and 2021 Olympic gold-winning coach Shane McLeod recently told HT: "India play really well in tournaments of consequence". One of them is the Asia Cup, to be held in Rajgir, Bihar from August 29-September 7 whose winner will qualify for the World Cup in Belgium and Netherlands. If India miss out, they will have to go through the qualifiers in February-March. "The last time India won the Asia Cup was in 2017, so that hasn't been done. We need to rectify that. Everyone is playing for that direct (World Cup) spot. We're 100% all-in. This is the priority of the year for us," Fulton told HT from Bengaluru. "We are training really hard. We know it's not going to be easy, but at the same time we've had a lot of success in the past. We've got to recreate it and get on the front foot." The only team to medal at the last two Olympics, the Harmanpreet Singh-led squad has dominated the continent in recent times. At the 2023 Hangzhou Asian Games, India romped undefeated to gold and qualified for the 2024 Paris Olympics. India also went unbeaten in winning the last two Asian Champions Trophy titles in 2023 and 2024. In the Asia Cup, after winning in 2017, India sent a second-string squad in 2022 as they had already qualified for the 2023 World Cup as hosts. They still claimed bronze. Fulton now expects his team to continue the dominance as the No.1 team in Asia and hold all three continental trophies simultaneously. "I don't think it's pressure. I like to think of it as focus. We've a job to do. We've got to just focus on ourselves and everything we are talking about, that we are really prepared to execute our plan," said Fulton, who took over in early 2023. Ahead of the Asia Cup, India are touring Australia to play four friendlies, in Perth from August 15-21. The South African coach will aim to sharpen the skills of his team, improve physical conditioning, technical execution, test combinations and youngsters against a formidable Australian team. "It is a key part of our preparation and a chance to build individual and team momentum before competing at home. We will use this tour to benefit us so that we are ready for the tournament in Bihar," said the 50-year-old, who along with the team will fly to Perth on Friday. The main thing Fulton must manage will be workload and injuries of players. The core group easily spends more than 300 days - can rise up to 330 in crucial seasons - away from home, playing competitions or spend time in national camps where training is nothing short of rigorous. With the Asia Cup, Pro League and World Cup along with many other events, it is critical that their workload is managed to keep them fresh for important events. "It's done really scientifically. We've shown from the build-up all the way through to the Olympics that we have a good formula for it and everything must be in place. You can't have people missing a training camp before a tournament or arriving late or anything like that," said Fulton. "Everything has to be perfectly in sync for the six-week programme and the fitness to work itself that you taper properly so that you're ready for every game. We work hard with that. That's what we do every day. We tweak it and make sure that we get it right because that's the most important thing." To assist him with workload management, Fulton has the services of scientific advisor Alan Tan, analytical coach Michael Cosma and data analyst Artur Lucas in the support staff. "We really try and manage all aspects but if someone gets injured, we have someone else who's already doing the loading and can play the position or still add value to the team. The backups are good enough. We have plans in place if we have any injury to any player," concluded Fulton....