mumbai amid the concerns caused by the third wave of the covid19 pandemic chinese taipei on thursday became the first team to arrive here for the afc womens asian cup even as the indian contingents flight from kochi got delayedthe delay in their flight from kochi the indian teams base since its return from the tournamentcumexposure tour of brazil has led to the postponement of the host nations scheduled media session on thursday eveningthe indian team has been drawn against iran january 20 chinese taipei january 23 and china january 26 in group a of the competition that consists of 12 teamsindia is hosting the continents highest competition for the first time since 1980 and at stake is a possible berth in the 2023 fifa world cupone of the venues hosting matches is the shiv chhatrapati sports complex in balewadi on the outskirts of pune cityit has hosted a plethora of international events in the past including the commonwealth youth games in 2008built in the 1990s the balewadi sports complex as it is popularly known in sporting circles had hosted the national games toobe it tennis rugby football boxing athletics or basketball the picturesque sports complex has witnessed many memorable sporting eventsfrom the 2008 cwg youth games when the facilities at the stadium saw a revamp till february 2020 the complex has hosted 36 international tournamentsthe most prominent among them is the maharashtra open atp 250 wta tennis tournament where 50 international players participatedin 2019 the atp tennis tournament was hosted here and again this year the tennis courts are gearing up to host the marquee eventin 2017 the stadium had hosted davis cup matchescoming to football the stadium is set to host asias marquee event and the group c matches would be played at the venueearlier it has hosted the federation cup international football tournament in 2010 and in 2011 they hosted the preolympic football qualifierthe pitch at the venue has been significantly upgraded to support modern football also new flood lights with led panels have been installed at the stadium which would save power to a large extent a senior state government official saidnew training facilities were reconstructed for the tournament two additional practice pitches have also been constructed to cater to the teams and apart from that the team dressing rooms hospitality areas and the media tribune have also been upgradedthe old lights have been shifted to one of the practice pitches while led lights are being installed at the other practice pitchsome of the other prominent tournaments that the complex has hosted include asian junior basketball tournament in 2009 world junior badminton championship in 2008 asian kickboxing championshipthe complex has also hosted the khelo india games