Thailand’s comeback victory over Korea keeps their hopes alive

The hard-fought, heart-beating19-25, 22-25, 29-27, 26-24, 15-12 win has given Thailand two points for an aggregate nine points, while Korea had 13 points, enough to make the cut for the Rio Games.
It was a long-awaited dream for Thailand to beat the Koreans in this tournament. Making their debut effort in the 2004 edition, Thailand have never beaten Korea before. They went down 1-3 to the Koreans in 2004, suffering the similar fate 2-3 in 2008 and 0-3 in 2012. Last year, the Koreans also narrowly beat the Thai team 2-3 in the second round of the Asian Championship in China.
Against the Incheon Asian Games champions, spearheaded by superstar spiker Kim Yeon-Koung, who won the Best Scorer and the Most Valuable Player awards at the 2012 London Games, Thailand tried their best but still found the going tough to go down 19-25 22-25 in the first two sets. However, they regrouped to prove that there is always life after death, hitting back bravely to win the remaining three sets 29-27 26-24 15-12 to claim two points from the win in the gruelling five-set thriller.
Onuma Sittirak scored a match-high 22 points for Thailand, while Kim Yeon-Koung was the Korea’s top scorer with 34 points.
After the match, Thai head coach Kiattipong Radchatagriengkai expressed his satisfaction over his team’s incredible victory.
“I admit that it was a tough match as we all know that Korea are one of the world’s strongest teams not easy to beat. After losing the first two sets, my team played more comfortably. We just tried to refrain from making mistakes and played more consistently with confidence and determination. That’s the key for our team’s success.”
Despite the win, Thailand’s chances remain slim. As six matches have already been contested and Thailand won only three matches, while the top four comprising the Netherlands, Korea, Italy and Japan have already captured four victories. Any team winning their fifth match on Saturday will guarantee them the Olympic berths.
Thailand have to wait for the results of the other matches including the encounter between Japan and Italy on Saturday to check if their hopes remain alive. If Japan win that match, Thailand will then have to pack their back although they still have one match remaining against Peru on Sunday.