Bangladesh begin their AHF Men鈥檚 Asia Cup campaign when they take on Malaysia in the eight-nation tournament opener at the Rajgir Hockey Stadium in Bihar, India, today.
Bangladesh earned their qualification in the place of three-time champions Pakistan, who withdrew from the tournament due to security concerns.
Apart from Pakistan, 2025 AHF Cup champions Oman also withdrew from the competition, paving the way for Kazakhstan in the 12th edition of the tournament.
The Pool B match between Bangladesh and Malaysia will begin at 9:30am Bangladesh Standard Time, and Sony Sports 2 will televise the match live.
In the other matches of the day, holders and record five-time champions South Korea will face Chinese Taipei in the Pool B match at 11:30am.
In the Pool A matches, Japan will take on Kazakhstan at 1:30pm before hosts and three-time champions India face China at 3:30pm.
In their other matches, Bangladesh face Chinese Taipei and South Korea on August 30 and September 1, respectively.
Bangladesh played a practice match against Kazakhstan in Bihar on Wednesday, a day after they reached India.
Earlier, Bangladesh had a two-week-long training at the Maulana Bhashani National Hockey Stadium before leaving the country.
After playing each other once in the pool stage, the top two teams from each pool will advance to the Super Four stage.
The team will face each other once in the Super Four stage, and the top two teams will play the final on September 7.
The third- and fourth-placed teams from the Super Four stage will play the third-place playoff on the same day.
The winners of the tournament will directly qualify for the FIH Hockey World Cup 2026, to be hosted jointly by the Netherlands and Belgium.
The teams ranked from second to sixth will also qualify for the World Cup 2026 Qualifiers to be played in February-March next year.
