Champs Thailand prove just too good for lowly Australia

World No 10 Thailand, who captured their maiden Asian crown in the 2009, fielded a strong line-up that included captain Wilavan Apinyapong, Onuma Sittirak, Pleumjit Thinkaow and Amporn Hyapha against Australia, the team they had lost just once -  in five sets in the 1991 Asian meet in Bangkok, Thailand.

After winning the first set without much effort, Thailand replaced their best players with substitutes including Thapaphaipun Chaisri, Wanichaya Luangthonglang and Utaiwan Kaensing.

The taller Australians came back hard against the much stronger Thais, but their determined effort failed. "I just wanted to rest my best players. The substitutes performed very well.

They are as good as the starters. I have a choice to replace the regulars any time. I'm happy with the win," Thailand head coach Kiattipong Radchatagriengkai said.

 "We have a daunting task against South Korea and Japan. They are strong and it's not easy to beat them. We have to play more carefully and must refrain from making unforced mistakes. Both South Korea and Japan are very fast. Their attacks and blocks are also great. We have to be consistent," he said.

Kiattipong confident

"I'm confident that my team can beat them but we will suffer some difficulty. It would be very close," Kiattipong said. The victory over Australia earned Thailand a berth in the round of final eight teams.

Winless Australia, who also lost to Vietnam 3-1 in their first match, were relegated to the classification round and fight for 9th-14th places.

Thailand go up against Pool D runners-up today before taking on Pool D winners the following day.

South Korea and Japan were due to contest their last Pool D matches late last night to determine the Pool D winners.

Elsewhere, Iran stunned Indonesia 3-2 (20-25 29-27 26-24 23-25 15-11),while China at press time won the first two sets 25-14 25-17 over Kazakhstan and led 13-7 in the third set.