Women's Asian Cup football draw: India clubbed alongside China, Chinese Taipei, Iran

Kuala Lumpur: Hosts India were on Thursday handed a tough draw at the 2022 AFC Women’s Asian Cup as they were clubbed alongside China, Chinese Taipei and Iran. India, ranked 57th in the FIFA charts, are the third-highest ranked side in the group behind China (17th) and Chinese Taipei (40th) and ahead of Iran (72nd). The draw was held at the Asian Football Confederations (AFC) headquarters in the Malaysian capital. India is scheduled to host the tournament from 6 January to 6 February. The excitement around Asia’s marquee women’s national team competition is starting to build following the completion of the qualifiers where Chinese Taipei, Indonesia, the Islamic Republic of Iran, Korea Republic, Myanmar, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam secured their spots to the Finals. They will join the top three teams from the 2018 showpiece Japan, Australia and China alongside host India when the tournament takes place from 20 January to 6 February. “India has been placed in Group A with China PR, Chinese Taipei and IR Iran! Eagerly looking forward to the #WAC2022 and all the exciting matches that we will be hosting and playing starting 20th January 2022,” All India Football Federation (AIFF) president Praful Patel tweeted. Head coach Thomas Dennerby’s team will feel confident especially on home turf and having recently beaten Chinese Taipei in an international friendly. India have played six friendlies in October and have impressed by winning three and losing three matches. India will face Iran in the opening match of the tournament on 20 January. The teams were separated into four pots based on their ranking from the previous edition. At the end of the draw, 12 teams were divided into three groups of four teams with host India placed in Pot 1 alongside reigning champions Japan and Australia, while Pot 2 featured China PR, Thailand and Korea Republic.