“Hockey is being revived in cities where sport was once popular”: Tirkey welcomes return of Women’s Hockey to Bhopal

Bhubaneswar (Odisha) [India], November 12 (ANI): Hockey India president Dilip Tirkey welcomed the return of worldwide girls’s hockey to Bhopal, highlighting the town’s wealthy hockey heritage forward of the Women’s Asian Champions Trophy 2026, scheduled to be held from November 19 to twenty-eight. 

He stated internet hosting the match after a number of years would assist revive the game’s recognition within the area and encourage extra native gamers to emerge sooner or later.

Six groups, India, Japan, China, Malaysia, Thailand and South Korea, will compete for the continental title in what guarantees to be an thrilling showcase of girls’s hockey. 

“A match is being held in Bhopal after a few years. There was a time when Bhopal had a powerful home hockey tradition, and plenty of gamers emerged from the town… An worldwide girls’s hockey match can also be being held in Bhopal after a number of years. This is an effective improvement, as hockey is being revived in cities the place the game was as soon as well-liked. This will assist extra gamers from these areas emerge sooner or later,’ Tirkey advised ANI. 

The match will maintain particular significance for the Indian girls’s hockey group because it marks their first worldwide project following their historic gold medal triumph on the Asian Games in Japan final month. The hosts will enter the competitors as defending champions and three-time winners, having lifted the title in 2016, 2023 and 2024. 

India will probably be aiming to safe a 3rd consecutive title and prolong their success within the competitors. The match will observe a round-robin format, with every group going through the opposite 5 groups as soon as. The prime 4 groups on the finish of the league stage will advance to the semi-finals.

The opening day on November 19 will characteristic China taking over Thailand within the match opener. India will start their marketing campaign towards Malaysia in a match preceded by the opening ceremony on the identical day. The hosts will subsequently face South Korea on November 21, Thailand on November 22, China on November 24 and Japan on November 25. (ANI)