India, March 3 -- With one key player out injured and another joining last week, India start in the AFC Women's Asian Cup against Vietnam in Perth on Wednesday hoping to live down memories of the last edition and stay in the hunt for a 2027 World Cup berth.

"In life there are no coincidences, so we are back to prove ourselves again," said head coach Amelia Valverde at Tuesday's pre-match media conference in Perth. Valverde was replying to whether the players would try to redeem themselves after being scratched from the last edition in 2022, which India had hosted, because of a Covid-19 outbreak. Eight players in Australia including skipper Sweety Devi were part of that side.

In a separate message to HT, Valverde said that having qualifi...