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Punjab joins the bandwagon of States using hockey to political gains
The tournament will feature the top six teams of the ensuing Asian Games to be held in Japan in September/October this year.
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Prabhjot Paul Singh - Wed, 25, Mar 2026
- 12:38 EDT
- 30
The Premier of British Columbia, David Eby, is seen receiving a Vancouver Canucks hockey jersey from the Chief Minister of Punjab, Bhagwant Mann. / Courtesy: Punjab government
Better late than never. Irrespective of its unprecedented and unmatched contribution to promoting hockey worldwide, Punjab has at last arrived. This nursery of world hockey has finally agreed to jump on the bandwagon of cities that play host to one or more of the International Hockey Federation (FIH) or Asian Hockey Federation (AHF) promoted events.
It has taken a little more than a century for Punjab to take up cudgels and agree to host a major hockey tournament on the terms of FIH/AHF. From Oct. 29 to November, the Punjab Hockey Association, supported by the Punjab Government, will play host to the inaugural Asian Champions Trophy Hockey Tournament for men. The tournament will feature the top six teams of the ensuing Asian Games to be held in Japan in September/October this year.
Also Read: FIH Hockey World Cup 2026: India and Pakistan share Pool D in men’s section
Punjab will thus join the select group of States led by Odisha, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Tamil Nadu, Bihar, and Telangana to appear on the FIH host cities map.
The Asian Champions Trophy will be co-hosted by Mohali and Jalandhar.
The States that have held international hockey tournaments since 2014 have reportedly drawn good political mileage from the successful conduct of these events.
The Punjab Chief Minister, Bhagwant Singh Mann, who met representatives of the Asian Hockey Federation, Hockey India and Hockey Punjab in Chandigarh on March 23 evening, “broke” the story to the media at a news conference on March 24.
Elections to the Punjab Assembly are due in early next year. The timing of the Asian Champions Trophy cannot be viewed in isolation.
Punjab, he said, has been at the forefront, contributing a major share to the national hockey teams. It sent nine players to the Tokyo Olympic Games, where India, after a gap of 41 years, won an Olympic medal, a bronze.
In the subsequent 2024 Paris Olympic Games, when India won back-to-back its second successive bronze medal, it sent 11 players to the national team.
The opening and closing ceremonies of the Asian Champions Trophy will be held at Mohali Hockey Stadium on Oct. 29 and Nov. 11. The opening game and the final will also be played at Mohali Stadium. The rest of the matches will be played at Surjit Hockey Stadium in Jalandhar.
The Punjab Chief Minister said that the last time Punjab organised a hockey Test match was more than 30 years ago. Though a four-nation tournament was organised in the late 90s when KPS Gill was both the Director-General of Police and President of the Punjab Hockey Association, the venue was the Sector 42 Hockey Stadium in Chandigarh. It was an invitation tournament and not an FIH/AHF event.
The visiting AHF and HI officials also suggested that Punjab could hold a four-nation tournament annually. They promised all support to get the proposed 4-nation tournament allotted to Punjab. The Punjab CM said that his government would work on the proposal.
Though Punjab is credited with training the 1975 World Cup champion team in Chandigarh, it never got a chance to hold any major tournament. Its contribution to Indian hockey has remained ignored over the years. The Indian Hockey Federation (IHF), which controlled the sport before Hockey India (HI) took over the administration of the sport in the country, had laid down a strong financial criterion, including the fat host fee besides complete control of arena advertising norms. Bids by Punjab to host FIH/AHF or invitation tournaments were turned down on financially non-feasible grounds.
Odisha was the first to come forward to play host to the FIH/AHF event under the banner of HI. Bhubaneshwar was chosen as the venue for the 2014 Champions Trophy.
Going by the present standings, nations expected to finish among the top six in the 2026 Asian Games are likely to be Pakistan, Japan, Korea, China, Malaysia and hosts India.
Though Chennai had played host to the Champions Trophy in the late 90s after holding a one-time Rene Frank International Hockey Tournament in Chennai immediately after the 1975 World Cup.
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