Thai volleyball wonders pull off upset win over world No 8 Dominican Republic
Determined Thailand thrilled home fans with a gutsy performance and excellent teamwork to pull off a hard-fought four-set 25-17 25-23 20-25 25-23 victory against in-form Dominican Republic in their opening FIVB World Grand Prix Pool G clash at Hua Mark In
World No 12 and Asian champions Thailand opened aggressively against the world No 8 team, to whom they had lost four of their five matches in FIVB-sanctioned competitions.
Key spiker Pleumjit Thinkaow, who sustained a right injury in training ahead of Thailand’s Pool F encounters in Hong Kong, returned to the court. She combined well with Wilavan Apinyapong and powerful Onuma Sittirak to score crucial points and help put the hosts in front 14-8.
The Pan American Cup winners found their rhythm and counter-attacked to claim four straight points to reduce the lead to 12-14. Cheered on lustily by drum-beating, screaming home fans, the Thai squad started striking form.
With Onuma methodically penetrating the Dominican defence with her spectacular spikes and Wilavan and Pleumjit producing solid blocks, Thailand sealed the first set 25-17.
Thailand took complete control at the beginning of the second set after taking a 6-0 lead. The Dominicans, whose average height is 184cm against the Thais’ 174cm, utilised their height to great advantage to attack devastatingly and block effectively to narrow the margin at 8-13. Their confidence boosted, the formidable visitors stormed ahead to grab four successive points for a 12-13 margin and caught up at 17-17, thanks largely to the 200cm Elizabeth Brayelin Martinez’s sharp spikes.
From then on, the Dominicans showed excellent defence at the net. Stubborn blocking by Annerys Victoria Vargas Valdez and Elizabeth Brayeliin Martinez and powerful attacks from Gina Altagracia and Mambru Casilla gave the visitors vital points. As the Dominicans closed the margin at 23-23, Martinez’s erratic spike and Malika Kanthong’s devastating cross-court spike ended the visitors’ challenge. Thailand took the hard-fought set 25-23 and a 2-0 lead.
Down two sets, the Dominicans tightened their defence and fought back to lead 4-0 in the third set. Thailand brought on fresh players, including Tapaphaipun Chaisri, but still found the taller rivals too strong in this set to go down fighting 20-25.
Thailand fielded a strong line-up in the fourth set – all of them had played in the team that won the 2009 and 2013 Asian Championship. They included Malika Kanthong, Pleumjit, Wilavan and Onuma. The fired-up Thais performed exceptionally well to take a commanding 16-11 lead and stretched it to 17-12. The Dominicans clawed their way back to 21-23. Thailand, who claimed their first win over world No 7 Serbia in Suwon, South Korea, counter-attacked to win the two decisive points for their second victory in the 2014 World Grand Prix.
“Great to beat them. I admit that it’s not easy for us to beat the Dominicans. They always come up with good blocking. They could not play well today. It might be because they’re still suffering from the long-haul flight and jetlag,” said Thai head coach Kiattipong Radchatagriengkai.
The USA were to take on Brazil in a later match yesterday. Today, the USA play Thailand and Brazil play Dominica. Channel 7 has the live action from 4.30pm.
