Thailand gun down Cuba for the seventh time
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Thai women extended their dominance over formidable Cuba by defeating them for the seventh time in a row when they powered past the Caribbean side in the opening Pool J match in the FIVB World Grand Prix at the Divs Uralochka Hall on Friday.
Thailand’s 25-21 25-17 21-25 25-19 victory set a new team record for the longest winning streak against a specific rival in the Grand Prix. This is the fourth time that Thailand have beaten the Cubans in a women’s premier volleyball tournament.
Thailand fielded a strong line-up that had won the AVC Cup last year and a fourth place at the World Grand Prix. Among them were Nootsara Tomkom, who won the Best Setter award in the Grand Prix, attacker Onuma Sittirak, Pluemjit Thinkaow and Wilavan Apinyapong. The team was also strengthened by the presence of talented youngster Thatdao Nuekjang, who is 183cm tall.
Thailand put up a good defence and attacked in a spectacular fashion through Onuma in the first two sets, which they won 25-21 25-17. Cuba, powered by Yaona Palacios Mendoza, who won the Best Spiker award last year, cruised their way back into the match with a third set 25-21 win. The Thais pulled up their socks and won the fourth set 25-19 and the match.
“It was a tough match and we found it difficult to win a point from Cuba. We made a lot of mistakes, but fortunately my players improved their form in time. I’m very glad that we won finally. My team made a poor start in the third set by making unforced errors to trail 0-7. If they had not made too many mistakes, they should have won the match in three sets,” Thai head coach Kiattipong Radchatagriengkai commented.
Thai captain Wilavan Apinyapong said, “It was not easy to beat Cuba. Thanks to our unity, we won the match. Everyone did her best in reducing the mistakes. I think our key to success is our good teamwork.”
In another Pool J match, defending two-time world champions Russia outclassed two-time World Cup winners Italy 25-13 18-25 25-18 26-24.
A total of 20 teams are taking part in the three-week preliminaries of the World Grand Prix, fighting for five berths in the six-team finals in Sappora, Japan from August 28 to September 1. Japan, as hosts, have already advanced to the Finals automatically.
After four matches in this year’s World Grand Prix, including the first three in Ankara, Turkey last week, Thailand have collected six points from two wins against two losses to place 11th in the overall standings.
