Schedule released for Madhya Pradesh Women’s Asian Champions Trophy Bhopal 2026; India open vs Malaysia
The Asian Hockey Federation has released the match schedule for the Madhya Pradesh Women’s Asian Champions Trophy Bhopal 2026, to be held at Bhopal’s new hockey stadium at the International Sports Complex in Nathu Barkheda from November 19 to 28, and India will begin its campaign against Malaysia on November 19.
Six teams — India, Japan, China, Malaysia, Thailand and South Korea — will compete in the tournament, which will be the Indian women’s first international assignment following their historic gold medal triumph at the Asian Games in Japan last month; the hosts enter as defending champions and three-time winners, having lifted the title in 2016, 2023 and 2024, and will be aiming to secure a third consecutive title.
The competition will follow a round-robin format with each team facing the other five once and the top four advancing to the semi-finals; the opening match on November 19 is scheduled to be China versus Thailand, with India’s fixture on the same day to be played after the opening ceremony.
November 20, 23 and 26 are designated rest days; the classification match for fifth and sixth place and the two semi-finals are set for November 27.
India’s fixtures and kick-off times (IST) are: November 19: India vs Malaysia – 7 pm IST; November 21: India vs South Korea – 7 pm IST; November 22: India vs Thailand – 7 pm IST; November 24: India vs China – 7 pm IST; November 25: India vs Japan – 7 pm IST.
“The Madhya Pradesh Women’s Asian Champions Trophy Bhopal 2026 will be a great opportunity to celebrate the growing strength of women’s hockey in Asia,” said Hockey India President Dr Dilip Tirkey. “I am delighted that Bhopal will host six competitive teams, and I look forward to seeing our Indian team build on its recent Asian Games success and defend its title.”
Hockey India Secretary General Shri Bhola Nath Singh said: “As the schedule for the Madhya Pradesh Women’s Asian Champions Trophy Bhopal 2026 is announced, the tournament is set to bring some of Asia’s strongest women’s hockey teams together. “Coming on the back of India’s historic Asian Games gold medal, this tournament will be an important opportunity for our players to carry forward that momentum. “We are grateful to the Madhya Pradesh Government for their support and look forward to welcoming the participating teams, officials and hockey fans to Bhopal for an exciting competition.”
The tournament concludes on November 28 with the bronze-medal match and the final, where the three medal-winning teams will be decided.