Bhopal Unveils the Women’s ACT Trophy as the Tour Rolls Out Across Madhya Pradesh
Bhopal’s got its hands on the trophy now. Literally.
Madhya Pradesh sports minister Vishwas Sarang unveiled the official logo and trophy for the Women’s Asian Champions Trophy at TT Nagar Stadium on Wednesday, then flagged off a trophy tour that will carry the silverware across the state until 17 November. Eight days out from the first push-back, the tournament finally feels real.
“It’s a matter of pride and prestige for Madhya Pradesh that Bhopal is hosting this prestigious international women’s hockey competition for the first time,” Sarang said. He’s not wrong. Bhopal has never hosted a tournament like this, and the state is treating it as a proper occasion, not just a fixture list.
The trophy tour covers all ten administrative divisions of Madhya Pradesh, Bhopal, Indore, Ujjain, Gwalior, Chambal, Sagar, Rewa, Shahdol, Jabalpur and Narmadapuram. Ministers, MPs and MLAs will welcome it at different stops, with rallies and awareness programmes bringing in students, young people and sportspersons along the way. It’s the kind of build-up that gets a tournament talked about beyond the hockey crowd.
What Bhopal’s putting on
The tournament runs 19 to 28 November at the newly built International Sports Complex in Nathu Barkheda, with six teams and around 150 players: hosts India, China, Japan, Malaysia, South Korea and Thailand. Chief Minister Mohan Yadav and Union Sports Minister Mansukh Mandaviya will inaugurate the tournament and the first phase of the complex.
The stadium holds around 5,000, entry is free for every match, and all games are day-night under floodlights, three a day. Opening day, 19 November, runs China v Thailand at 12:30pm PKT, Japan v South Korea at 2:45pm PKT, then the one everyone will be watching, India v Malaysia at 6:30pm PKT after the opening ceremony. The matches go out live on Star Sports and Hotstar in 166 countries.
November in Madhya Pradesh is basically hockey month now. The state has lined up a friendly between the Indian national team and the Madhya Pradesh Hockey Academy side, and players from the state academies and feeder centres will get to meet the international squads. There’ll be stalls at the venue showcasing tribal cuisine, handicrafts and folk arts too, so the visitors get a proper taste of the place, not just the pitch.
India come in as defending champions, chasing a fourth title after winning in 2016, 2023 and 2024, and this is their first outing since the Asian Games gold in Japan last month. Salima Tete leads the side, and the squad news has already made waves, with veteran keeper Savita Punia rested and young defender Pooja Sahoo earning a maiden senior call-up.
For our money, the trophy tour is a smart move. A new venue in a new host city needs the locals bought in, and a trophy doing the rounds of ten divisions does that better than any poster campaign. Now the hockey has to match the build-up.
