Pakistani team will come to India for Asia Cup, got green signal

New Delhi: Hockey Asia Cup 2025 is to be organized in India. 8 teams are to participate in it. But due to tension between India and Pakistan, there was a problem regarding the participation of Pakistani hockey team in it. Now the Indian Sports Ministry has said that the Pakistani hockey team will not be stopped from participating in the Asia Cup to be held in India next month. This has cleared the way for the Pakistani team to play in the Hockey Asia Cup and come to India.

A source in the Sports Ministry said that India will play against Pakistan in a tournament with the participation of many countries. The source has told that we are not against any team participating in multinational tournaments in India. But bilateral tournaments are different. International sports demand that we cannot back down from competing. There is a war going on between Russia and Ukraine, but they participate in multinational tournaments.

Hockey Asia Cup will be held in Rajgir, Bihar from August 27 to September 7, in which eight teams including India will participate. India has qualified as the host. Apart from India, teams from China, Japan, Malaysia, South Korea, Oman and Chinese Taipei will participate in this tournament.

The Indian hockey team has won the Asia Cup title three times. It last won this title in the year 2017. The last time the Hockey Asia Cup was played was in the year 2022, in which the Indian hockey team finished third after defeating Japan. On the other hand, the Pakistani hockey team has won the Asia Cup title three times and South Korea has won it five times so far.