Thai women hope to inflict pain on Japan in Asiad
Thai women will be gunning for revenge in the Asian Games volleyball competition when they take on Japan in their opening encounter at Songnim Gymnasium today.
Recently the two-time Asian champions, represented by a young squad, finished fifth at the AVC Cup for Women in Shenzhen, China, where they lost to China and Japan in straight sets.
China and Japan have sent the same teams to Incheon that competed at the AVC Cup. Their best players are going to compete in the World Championship in Italy between September 23 to October 12. Meanwhile, Thailand fielded a team with a mixture of veterans and youngsters.
Powered by the hard-hitting Onuma Sittirak, Pleumjit Thinkaow and Wilavan Apinyapong, Thailand have the arsenal to down Japan in the midday clash.
“We need to beat them to boost our confidence for the remaining matches. It’s not easy. Japan, no matter what team they will be fielding, are very strong. It’s difficult to play with them and we have to be careful and consistent,” Thailand’s head coach Natthapon Srisamutnak said yesterday.
Natthapon feels that Thailand should have a strong line-up to have any chance of winning the match. He is planning to throw all his experienced players –of Onuma, Pleumjit, Wilavan, Nootsara Tomkom, Malika Kanthong, Thatdao Nuekjang and libero Piyanut Pannoy – into the match.
Thailand are playing in Pool A with hosts South Korea, Japan and India, while Pool B comprises title-holders China, Kazakhstan, Maldives, Taiwan and Hong Kong. The pool round-robin preliminaries will end on September 26, with the knock-out quarter-finals on September 27.
Thailand have never won a gold medal in the Asiad. Their best performance is a fourth place in 1986, 1998 and 20006. Four years ago, they finished a disappointing fifth.
Meanwhile, Kuwait outclassed Pakistan 25-22 25-21 25-16 and hosts and AVC Cup champions Korea thrashed Kazakhstan 25-16 25-21 25-23 in the men’s event, while Taiwan tamed Hong Kong in a one-sided battle 25-10 25-12 25-19 in the women's competition.
At press time, India, runner-ups in the AVC Cup, were leading Hong Kong 2-1 (23-25 25-18 25-16) in the men’s event.
