Jhansi

The 16th Hockey India Senior Men National Championship is set to begin here from Saturday with 29 teams competing across three divisions.

The tournament will conclude on October 21, with the Division ‘A’ final scheduled for the final day of competition, Hockey India announced on Friday.

Punjab are the defending champions.

The 2026 edition will feature Division ‘A’, Division ‘B’ and Division ‘C’, with teams grouped according to their rankings from the 2025 edition.

Division ‘A’ will feature 12 teams divided into four pools of three teams each. Pool A comprises Punjab, Tamil Nadu and Bengal, while Pool B features Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Le Puducherry.

Pool C includes Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka and Chandigarh, while Pool D consists of Manipur, Haryana and Delhi.

The pool stage will be followed by the quarterfinals on October 18, with the top two teams from each pool advancing to the knockout stage.

The semifinals will take place on October 19, followed by the third-place match and the final on October 21.

Division ‘B’ will see 10 teams compete across two pools. Pool A features Odisha, Assam, Kerala, Uttarakhand and Chhattisgarh.

Pool B comprises Jharkhand, Telangana, Goans Hockey, Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu Hockey, and Hockey Arunachal.

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Meanwhile, Division ‘C’ will feature seven teams divided into two pools. Pool A includes Mizoram, Himachal and Jammu & Kashmir, while Pool B comprises Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan, Bihar and Gujarat.