Dominicans too strong again for Thais
Pleumjit thanks fans after improved showing in 3-2 defeat in World Grand Prix pool encounter
>> The Dominican Republic got the better of Thailand again in this year’s World Grand Prix.
The visitors edged the home team 3-2 (17-25, 25-21, 24-26, 25-21, 15-7) in their Pool H1 match at Hua Mark Indoor Stadium last night.
The Dominicans also beat Thailand in the first week’s action in Apeldoorn, the Netherlands.
Team captain Pleumjit Thinkaow said: “It was very close. Unfortunately we didn’t get the result we hoped for.
“Still, it was an improved performance from when we lost to them in the first week.”
Pleumjit thanked the fans who packed the Hua Mark Indoor Stadium last night.
“The fans were great as always. But we have two more matches at the weekend so hopefully everyone will come and give us support again.”
Thailand have lost six games so far in this campaign. Their only win came last week against 11-time champions Brazil in Sendai, Japan.
Meanwhile, Italy claimed a 3-1 (25-17, 20-25, 25-21, 32-30) win against Turkey in the first game yesterday.
It was a very important victory in their quest to qualify for the finals in Nanjing next month.
With Paola Egonu on fire both in attack and from the serving line, Italy scored their fifth consecutive victory in the tournament. It was Italy’s ninth win in 10 World Grand Prix encounters between these two countries.
To her 17 spikes and four aces, Egonu added two of Italy’s 13 kill blocks and piled up a 23-point contribution to her team’s success.
Turkey’s Meryem Boz was next on the scorers’ chart of the match with 19 points. Her teammate Beyza Arici impressed with as many as six blocking points.
Thailand face Turkey today at 6pm while Italy meet Dominican Republic at 3pm. The matches will be shown live on Channel 3HD (33) and Channel 3 Family (13) respectively.
The top-five sides in the 12-team preliminary round join hosts China in the finals next month.