Rajgir (Bihar), Sep 7 (PTI) Chief coach Craig Fulton termed India's Asia Cup-winning campaign as a "good squad performance" and said the boys had fulfilled his desire by becoming the champion team in Asia.
Dilpreet Singh scored a brace as India produced a clinical performance to outplay defending champions South Korea 4-1 and lift their fourth Asia Cup title, which came after a gap of eight years.
The title enabled India to directly qualify for next year's World Cup to be held in Belgium and the Netherlands.
Fulton said it takes a toll on the body to play consecutive matches in the span of 10 days and fitness was the key to India's success.
"It was a good squad performance. If you take seven games in 10 days that's really difficult to do. We were physically stronger than all the teams here I think and that's No.1 thing to do. The rest was very little," he said after the final.
"I said before we want to be No.1 in Asia, we want to build depth in our squad and that's the No.1 thing. I think we are getting there now.
"We prepared well, we executed well. We didn't start so well but finished really strong, so really happy the way we finished playing seven games in 10 days." Fulton was all praise for the tenacity of his players, and said they always try to achieve what they aim for.
"The team is super intelligent, so whatever they try they do. We do a lot of homework on the opposition and ourselves, more on ourselves than others. When they commit to do something, they do it well. That's what I like," he said.
The South African felt the tough tour of Australia just before the Asia Cup was an ideal preparation for India.
"I think the Australia tour was really important. We were playing well in the Pro League but just didn't get the results. Then we came back and had a good training camp and then went to Australia, had good performances there, had good results against Australia first time in eight years.
"We just had to adapt to the heat and we finished strong," Fulton said.
Fulton said the focus now is to built depth in the squad with two major tournaments -- World Cup and the Asian Games -- lined up next year.
"We are just getting there. There are two different types of hockey, Asian hockey and European hockey. All the powerhouses are in Europe and obviously Australia. So we are trying to build depth in what we do here and go and challenge other teams in Europe. That's what we are trying to do," he said.
Talking about India's future assignments, the coach said: "We have the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup, South Africa tour, Hockey India League and Pro League. We have the World Cup and the Asian Games three weeks apart, so it's about building depth. In the next 12-14 months, we will have to use the competitions to see where we are." Fulton praised Dilpreet, who looked a bit pale in the earlier matches, for his show on Sunday.
"I am super happy for Dilpreet. He was really hard on himself. He has come up leaps and bounds, great to see him." Fulton believes India controlled the final against Korea superbly.
"Man, it was difficult (to control). A lot of things didn't fall in place for us, some uncontrollables but at the same time it's a good result. A final can be really scratchy. To get 3-0 up and then 4-0 and 4-1 it's ok. That was good control for us."
This report includes content sourced from Press Trust of India (PTI), edited for clarity and context.
