After a week of competition at Olympian Surjit Singh Hockey Stadium in Jalandhar, the Hero Asian Champions Trophy moves to Olympian Balbir Singh Senior Hockey Stadium in Mohali for its final phase.
The six-nation tournament, featuring India, Malaysia, Japan, Korea, China and Bangladesh, now enters the knockout stage following a league round that produced several surprises.
Hosts and Asian Games champions India enter the semifinals with five wins from as many matches. The pre-tournament favorites concluded their league campaign with an emphatic 8-0 victory over Korea, reinforcing their position at the top of the standings.
India’s attacking lineup included Dilpreet Singh, captain and drag-flick specialist Harmanpreet Singh, Jugraj Singh, Sanjay, newcomer Angad Bir Singh, Shilanand Lakra and Sukhjeet Singh. The hosts also defeated Asian Games silver medalists Malaysia 4-2 during the league stage.
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India will face fourth-place Korea in the first semifinal, while Japan will meet Malaysia in the second. Bangladesh and China will contest the fifth-place playoff. The gold and bronze medal matches are scheduled for Thursday.
For Mohali, the tournament marks the first international event at Olympian Balbir Singh Senior Hockey Stadium, which was formally inaugurated more than a decade ago under the Shiromani Akali Dal-Bharatiya Janata Party government.
Preparations continued on the eve of the final phase, with construction, repairs and renovation work underway as teams rested following their journey from Jalandhar. Fresh paint was still visible around the venue.
The 12,000-capacity stadium, located next to Inderjit Singh Bindra Punjab Cricket Association Stadium, will offer free admission for the two days of international hockey.
Former hockey players are expected to attend alongside senior officials from the International Hockey Federation and the Asian Hockey Federation.
As in Jalandhar, the Punjab government, a co-sponsor of the tournament, has organized exhibitions highlighting developments across several sectors. A replica of a traditional Punjabi village has also been built on the stadium grounds to introduce visitors to the state’s rural life and agricultural heritage.
The stadium houses a gallery documenting Punjab’s hockey history and its contributions to the sport at the national and international levels.
Both the Jalandhar and Mohali venues also house hockey academies, where young boys and girls train under coaches from the region.
