29th October: The Asia Cup for women starts here in Bangkok today. The finalists of the 11-nation event will secure berths in the 2010 World Cup. India, Japan, Korea and China are the contenders for the top honours while Malaysia and others are capable of upsetting the apple cart of any team in a given day.

India has been doing fairely well at this genre of competition.

It reached the finals in 1999, won a bronze six years earlier and then won the title for the first time in 2004 incidentally under the training of present coach MK Kaushik.

After 2004, the event has been converted into an bi-annual event. India fared poorly in the last edition in 2007 at Hong Kong.

India has the bright chances of reaching the semis now unless it messes up its chances.

Singapore, Malaysia and the hosts Thailand are in its group in addition to China.

China has been a force to reckon with in the global hockey, and together with Korea and India, the field appears tight.

in 2007, Japan surprised Korea in the final the result of which was obtained through tie-breaker after both team tied 1-1 in the regulation and extra time.