Thailand lose match but win fans’ hearts
Thailand are still winless on their home court, losing to South Korea 3-1 in the fourth week of the inaugural FIVB Nations League in Nakhon Ratchasima yesterday.
Led by superstar captain Kim YeonKoung, the Koreans, who lost all three games last week, ended their slide with a 25-16, 25-18, 20-25, 26-24 win against the home team in Pool 15 in front of a full house at Chatchai Hall.
Thailand lost all three games in Pool 11 in Bangkok last week.
Despite their eighth loss of the campaign against only two wins, the Thai team entertained the home fans with their spirited performance, especially in the third and fourth sets.
“In the first two sets, we were simply not good enough as the players probably felt the pressure,” admitted coach Danai Sriwacharamaytakul.
“But we did much better in the third and fourth sets. We defended much better. It was a bit unfortunate that we lost in the fourth, it was very very close.”
Yang Hao-Jin was the Koreans’ top scorer with 21 points while skipper Kim chipped in with 20.
Thailand’s Ajcharaporn Kongyot had 18 points and veteran star Onuma Sittirak added 16.
Thailand play Turkey in the second pool game today while Japan take on South Korea.
Earlier, Meryem Boz inspired Turkey to a crucial victory over Japan to open the fourth week in style.
The towering 194cm Boz made several clutch plays to guide Turkey to a 3-1 (25-17, 25-23, 13-25, 25-11) triumph.
Turkey, who sat fifth on the overall rankings at the end of the third week, overcame a third-set blip to storm home and ensure they clinched their seventh victory of the tournament. The win kept them in the reckoning for a berth in the final round.
Turkey’s superior size and strength overwhelmed Japan, who tried hard with their trademark vaunted defence but slipped to a worrying 4-6 overall record.
In Jiangmen, China, the United States continued their winning ways with a 3-0 (25-14, 25-18, 25-18) victory over Russia in Pool 14 yesterday.
The reigning world champions never really looked troubled by their opponents and improved on an already impressive run of form in this event.
The Americans entered the fourth round of the event on an incredible streak of seven straight victories, all coming in straight sets. They wasted no time in making it eight victories in a row — and 24 straight sets.