Thailand bite the dust in the semis
Play
Taiwan were in a devastating mood yesterday, hammering off-form Thailand to secure a berth in the final for the second time in their history in the Chang 16th Asian Junior Women's Volleyball Championship at the Nakhon Pathom Gymnasium.
Taiwan, who finished runners-up to Japan in the 2008 edition at home, proved that their victory over Japan in the pool preliminaries earlier was no fluke. Yesterday, the Taiwanese bounced back from a set down 25-27 against Thailand to take the remaining sets 25-10 25-16 25-18.
“I would like to say sorry to Thai fans for our failure to make it to the final. Taiwan played exceptionally well in defence and offence. They were better than us. The girls made too many mistakes and easily lost their concentration. Their serves were error-filled, while the first-ball reception was also poor,” said Thai head coach Nataphon Srisamutnak.
“We will try to do our best in the third-place play-off,” he said.
Taiwan today go up against the winners of the late match between reigning and nine-time champions China and Japan.
China are the favourites as Japan had lost to the world No 1 team in straight sets in their Pool F play-offs earlier. China have not conceded a set in the whole of the championship.
In the 5th-8th play-offs earlier, India outclassed Iran 25-18 25-8 25-15 and Korea struggled to beat Kazakhstan 3-2 (22-25 20-25 25-20 25-19 15-6).
At the Ratchaburi Gymnasium, Turkmenistan finished 15th in the tournament after downing young and inexperienced Kuwait 25-10 25-3 25-11, Sri Lanka claimed the 13th position following a dramatic 3-1 (25-20 25-19 16-25 26-24) win over Mongolia and Hong Kong took the 11th place after thrashing New Zealand 25-14 25-18 25-20.
In the 9th-10th place play-off, Australia beat Vietnam 25-22 to win the first set at press time.
Today, Kazakhstan take on Iran in the 7th-8th place play-off, while India and Korea battle it out for the fifth place. Thailand are expected to face Japan in the third place play-off and Taiwan to set up a rematch with China in the showdown.
