They include Iranian Fereshteh Karimi. The star and Most Valuable Player of the 2015 edition of the tournament, Karimi will look to lead Iran to back-to-back titles and reproduce the stunning form she showed in Malaysia three years ago.
The Tehran-born star scored six goals, including the winner in the final, and found the net a further five times as Iran took bronze at the 2017 Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games.
Long-considered one of Asia’s finest players, Thailand 2018 gives the 29-year-old the chance to further enhance her already-glittering reputation, and she will arrive high on confidence having scored as Iran drew 2-2 with Ukraine last week.
Lyudmila Karachik (Uzbekistan), Cheung Wai Ki (Hong Kong), Sasicha Phothiwong (Thailand) and Shiori Nakajima (Japan) are also four other players who the-AFC.com has described as favorites at the tournament’s second edition.