Women’s Asian Champions Trophy Bhopal: India’s Full Fixture List, From Malaysia Opener to the Final
Bhopal’s fixture list is out, and India’s road at the Women’s Asian Champions Trophy now has dates on it. The hosts and three-time champions open against Malaysia on 19 November, and the tournament runs through to the final on 28 November at Bhopal’s International Sports Complex.
It’s a six-team round robin: India, China, Japan, South Korea, Thailand and Malaysia, each playing five league games, with the top four going through to the semi-finals on 27 November. The final and the third-place match follow on 28 November.
India’s order of games tells its own story. Malaysia first on 19 November is the gentlest possible start, a game the hosts will expect to win and win well. Then South Korea on 21 November, a step up in pace and physicality. Thailand on 22 November should be another game India control. Then the two that will define the group stage: China on 24 November, and Japan on 25 November, back to back, against the two teams most likely to be fighting India for top spot.
India come in as Asian Games gold medallists, and as champions in 2016, 2023 and 2024. That’s the standard this group will be judged against. The Bhopal tournament is also a milestone for Madhya Pradesh itself: despite producing plenty of Olympians over the years, the state has never hosted an international hockey tournament before. Hockey India secretary general Bhola Nath Singh has framed it as part of a deliberate push to take the sport to regions with a strong hockey culture, the same thinking behind Punjab hosting the men’s event this week.
For our money, the group stage is India’s to top, but the China and Japan games in that final week of November will tell us whether this team is peaking or just passing through. Win both, and the semi-final draw opens up nicely. Drop points in either, and 27 November gets a lot more complicated.
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