India, Oct. 14 -- The Indian women's hockey team sorely missed the services of one player at the Asia Cup last month where the Salima Tete-led side lost in the final to hosts and Paris Olympics silver medallists China.

Striker and drag-flicker Deepika Sehrawat could not travel to Hangzhou due to a tear in her hamstring, sustained in the last training session before the travel day. The injury meant India were without their primary penalty corner (PC) specialist at the 2026 World Cup qualifier.

"We missed Deepika as we were also focussed on indirect PC attempts through her. Because of that we had to reset the entire PC attack structure. With Deepika, we would have scored more goals and would have been more cohesive. She is a player who ca...