Thailand shock tough Russia

After four straight losses to Dominican Republic 3-0, Brazil 3-0, Japan 3-0 and USA 3-2, the Kingdom’s team finally put an end to their misery by beating the world No 6 18-25 25-22 25-21 25-23.

That marked the first time in the history that Thailand beat Russia after losing to the powerful opponents 10 times in a row. The reward for the win was a fifth place finish in the eight-team tournament, a spot better than in the last edition four years ago.

National coach Kiattipong Ratchatagriengkai was relieved to escape from a possible winless performance as fans placed high hopes on his players following their spectacular  win in the Asian Championship in Nakhon Ratchasima two months ago.

“I want to congratulate my players. They did a very good job and tried their best to get every point, and they helped each other. Their spirit is very good and it was good for the fans in Thailand watching live on TV. This will give us more confidence and is very important to help improve volleyball in Thailand. Russia are tall and attack powerfully and we couldn’t stop their blocking at the start. Then we tried to make good serves to stop the Russian strategy, as well as defence and counterattack. We couldn’t attack over their blocks; it was like a great wall.”

Thai captain Wilavan Apinyapong said: “I’m really happy with this win against a strong team like Russia. Today, we helped each other. We tried to play our game and everybody really had fun.”