Thais battle valiantly but fail to beat Russians

The 24-26 25-18 25-22 25-20 15-11 defeat meant that Thailand have never beaten Russia in nine meetings since the inception of the event in 2002. It was the first time a match between the two has gone to five games.

At the end of the three-week preliminary round matches, only the top five teams out of the 20 participating teams plus hosts Japan made the cut for the World Grand Prix Finals to be held in Sapporo from August 28 to September 1. China topped the overall standings with 25 points. Brazil and Serbia were second and third with 23 points.

The USA claimed 22 points to take fourth place, with Italy and Japan bagging 21 and 19 points to finish fifth and sixth, respectively. Russia (19 points) finished seventh while Thailand (10 points) ended in 11th position.

In the match against Russia, Onuma Sittirak scored a match-high 26 points including 21 hits from 53 attempts and four powerful jump serves. Nataliya Goncharova led Russia with 31 points, which included 24 devastating spikes. She also led the blocking and serving, with four and three points apiece.

Cheered on lustily by more than 7,000 fans, Thailand fought back after trailing 5-2 to win the first game 26-24.

Smashing machine Nataliya Gon-charova and attacking Tatiana Koshe-leva gave the Russians a lifeline in the second game, which they won 25-18.

Both sides entertained the big crowd with their determination and brilliant play in the third game. Russia fared slightly better to clinch the hotly contested game 25-22.

Holding a 2-1 advantage, Russia maintained their poise, but things did not go according to their plan. Thailand played with plenty of guts and spirit to take the game 25-20.

In an action-packed decider, Thailand recovered from trailing 1-5 to tie 7-7. Nevertheless, their rally was short-lived as Russia launched aggressive attacks to win the tie-break 15-11 and take the gruelling match.

Thai head coach Kiattipong Radchatagriengkai said, “Thai supporters were incredible and made our players perform at their best. Although we lost three sets, I’m proud of the two sets we won. Our new players showed great form. Their skills have improved significantly during the course of the tournament.”

The other match saw gallant Puerto Rico end their World Grand Prix campaign on a positive note by beating world No 8 Germany 25-23 25-23 23-25 13-25 15-13. The Thai players will be back in training tomorrow in preparation for the 2014 World Championship Qualification Asian Zone Final Round in Nagoya, Japan, between September 4 to 8. Thailand, Vietnam, Australia, Taiwan and hosts Japan will battle it out for two World Championship Finals berths in the Pool A.

Thailand will also take part in the Asian Championship in Nakhon Ratchasima from September 13 to 21, with 16 teams participating in it.