Chinese women's field hockey team, touted as a world power, will be confronted with an uphill battle in the defense of their Asian Games title, a senior Chinese official said on Sunday.

"There will be no easy matches for us in the Asian Games," said Hu Jianguo, president of the Chinese Field Hockey Association.

"We will meet ferocious challenge from South Korea, Japan and India, they are very strong teams having competed in this year's World Cup tournament with China.

"Japan reached the top six in the World Cup and secured the chance to play next year's Champions Trophy tournament for the first time. They manifested some daunting prowess in pulling off that feat.

"South Korea are another team to be reckoned with, we lost to them in the World Cup ninth-place playoff," he said.

China, having been billed as serious title-contenders prior to the World Cup, suffered an ignominious and nightmarish run of four consecutive losses in the group stage and finished in a distant and humiliating tenth place.

They have put the World Cup disappointment behind and are now bracing themselves for the upcoming Asian Games to be held in early December in Doha, Qatar, said Hu.

"We made a meticulous analysis of our World Cup performance after going back to China, and have helped the players regain their confidence," he said.

The Chinese team emerged as a world power since the Sydney Olympic Games under the guidance of South Korean coach Kim Chang back, whose rigorous and draconian training regime was claimed to have helped put China in the international arena.

In the 2004 Olympic Games, they made a brilliant run and remained unbeaten before losing to the eventual winners Germany in the semi-finals. And in the Champions Trophy tournament held in Amsterdam in July, they also withered before the German set-up and finished runners-up.

(Xinhua News Agency November 13, 2006)