Thailand show resilience in defeating Puerto Rico

Thailand, No 12 in the world rankings, fielded an impressive line-up which included powerful attacker Onuma Sittirak, Wilavan Apinyapong and crowd favourite Pleumjit Thinkaow. Wilavan led the host team with 23 points including 21 attacks from 35 attempts, while Puerto Rico’s Ocasio scored a match-high 16 points.

The Puerto Ricans, who are yet to win a match in the World Grand Prix this season, have no chance of making it to the Finals, while Thailand’s dream of qualifying for the meet in Japan was over last week.

 In the first game, Puerto Rico got off to a fine start as the 192cm-tall Ocasio used her height advantage to attack aggressively at the net to help the world No 18 take an initial 13-7 lead. As the attacks continued, it was clear that Puerto Rico would stun the hosts.

However, the hosts pulled together and fought back valiantly in the next three games. Helped by Apinyapong’s devastating cross-court spikes and Sittirak’s powerful jump serves, Thailand captured the games 25-7 25-22 25-11 for a 3-1 victory.

With the seventh loss of the season, Puerto Rico recorded the worst ever start to their Grand Prix campaign. If they fail to win a match this weekend, they will close the Grand Prix without a win for the first time in their history.

Friday’s victory has stretched Thailand’s win-loss record in the World Grand Prix against Puerto Rico to 5-1. Last year, Thailand beat Puerto Rico twice in the World Grand Prix with a straight-set win in Pool A in Macao and a 3-1 victory in Pool F in Komaki, Japan.

Thailand’s head coach Kiattipong Radchatagriengkai said, “It was a good match. I coaxed my players to win the match. Many of the players were quite excited to play in front of a large number of fans.

“In the first game, my players made too many mistakes, especially in combination and passing the ball. Fortunately, they overcame their nervousness and got into their vaunted form in the remaining three games. Puerto Rico are a strong team. They played very well in the first and third sets. We will try our best in our next match against Germany.”

Team captain Wilavan Apinyapong said, “Everybody tried hard to bring out her best. Some of them wanted to make the large crowd happy with spectacular play. They became nervous when they started to make mistakes. 

“The match against Germany would not be easy. We have to study their tactics and come up with a gameplan to tackle them,” she said.

The other match saw two-time world champions Russia pulled off a 3-2 (22-25 17-25 25-18 25-19 15-11) victory over Germany.