Thailand go down in hard-fought - clash against fired-up China

Before a large crowd of home supporters packing the Hong Kong Coliseum, world No.5 and last year’s runners-up China struggled to beat world No.12 Thailand in dramatic four sets 29-27 25-18 20-25 25-15.

China started aggressively in the opening set. The 195cm Zhu Ting smashed very sharp spikes and powerful Rui Ruoqi did some great damage, making things very difficult in attack for Thailand towards a China’s commanding 17-13 lead on the board.

Thailand gradually pulled their game together with Malika Kanthong and hard-hitting Onuma Sittirak overcoming the taller blockers with their exceptional spikes to help the team close the gap at 17-17. From then on, leads changed hands for several times.

Captain Wilavan Apinyapong moved Thailand ahead 24-23, thanks to her aggressive attack at the wing. As Thailand needed only one more point to capture the set, China were just never-say-die, counter-attacking well to level 24-24. Taking the height advantage to spike devastatingly and block scintillatingly, China took the hard-fought set 29-27.

Conceding one set, Thailand tried to improve on their defence in the second set, but had no tactical weapons for the comebacks. After taking the comfortable 21-15 lead, China pulled out stunning blocks in the final part and devastating Zhu Ting smashed the 25-18 win, a China’s 2-0 lead.

Hui Ruoqi and Zeng Chunlei provided China a huge 6-3 gap in the third set, but shortly after that they became more prone with reception and spiking. Wilavan and Onuma gave Thailand a strong comeback, attacking spectacularly to help the team catch up with the formidable Chinese 14-14. Thailand went on their dazzling form to stretch it to 23-18 and 24-20 before Malika spiked to the back court which went unanswered. Thailand won the set 25-20.

In the fourth set, China still maintained their form as spirited Thailand dropped from their best to come up with several unforced spiking mistakes. As China led commandingly 18-12,  Xu Yunli came from behind to attack fiercely at the wing and Hui Ruoqi and Wei Quiyue producing solid blocks to help the team widen the margin to 21-13. China stormed on to win the set 25-15 and the match.

“My players did their best. China are very strong and played one of their best matches. Their wing spikers and blockers came up with excellent form we could not match. We tried to improve on attacking, but it did not work well. I think we also made several mistakes, especially on reception. Against Italy in our next match, I admit that it will be very tough. We have to use our great serves to foil their attacking attempts. I know it will be very difficult to beat the Italians, but we will try our best,” Thai head coach Kiattipong Radchatagriengkai commented after the match.

Earlier, Italy struggled hard to beat Japan in hard-fought five sets 25-20 25-17 21-25 20-25 15-11.

On Saturday, Thailand will go up against Italy and China take on Japan. Channel 7 will televise the Thai match live from 1.20pm onwards.