Mohali, Sept 2026 : Pakistan will travel to India next month to participate in the Men's Asian Champions Trophy, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann confirmed on Monday, as he announced the six teams set to compete in the continental hockey tournament.
The tournament will be held from October 27 to November 5 across Jalandhar and Mohali, with hosts India joined by Pakistan, China, Japan, Malaysia and Korea. Oman and Bangladesh have been designated as reserve teams in the event that any of the participating nations withdraw.
Mann said there was no obstacle to India and Pakistan competing in multinational sporting events, while bilateral contests between the two countries remained ruled out under the existing government policy.
“There is no problem in multi-national tournaments. Bilateral series between India and Pakistan cannot take place,” Mann said, explaining that the policy permits the two countries to participate against each other in multilateral competitions.
The Sports Ministry had issued an office memorandum on May 5 stating that Pakistani players and teams would be permitted to participate in multilateral sporting events hosted by India. The government had also indicated a more supportive approach towards visas for athletes, officials and representatives of international sports federations.
Pakistan's participation in the upcoming tournament comes after instances in which the country withdrew from international events hosted in India. Last year, Pakistan pulled out of the Men's Asia Cup in Rajgir, Bihar, and subsequently withdrew from the Junior World Cup in Tamil Nadu.
Hockey India secretary general Bhola Nath Singh said relations between the hockey federations of India and Pakistan remained cordial despite the broader political differences between the two countries.
“I want to say this on record that we share very good relations between the hockey federations of India and Pakistan,” Singh said. He recalled his interactions with the Pakistani team during matches and said players from both sides maintained mutual respect.
Singh said that whenever he attended matches involving India and Pakistan, he made it a point to meet the Pakistani team first if India won, followed by the Indian team. He added that Pakistani players had consistently shown considerable respect during such interactions.
The league stage of the Men's Asian Champions Trophy will be played in Jalandhar from October 27 to November 2. The top teams will then advance to the knockout stage, with the semifinals scheduled for November 4 and the final set to be played on November 5.
India enter the competition as the defending champions and will be looking to retain their dominance in the tournament. The Indian team won the Asian Champions Trophy titles in both 2023 and 2024.
The return of Pakistan to an international sporting competition on Indian soil is expected to attract considerable attention, particularly given the political sensitivities surrounding sporting ties between the neighbouring countries. However, the tournament will provide an opportunity for the two hockey teams to renew their sporting rivalry in a multinational competition while maintaining the longstanding sporting relationship between their respective hockey federations.
