Girl spikers book Worlds berth

World No 17 Thailand have been to four World Championships as hosts or reserves but never before made the cut through qualification.

Cheered on by a large crowd of drum-beating, dancing fans yesterday, the Thai girls cruised past Kazakhstan 25-13 25-15 25-16 for a likely clash against South Korea, who are favourites to beat the Philippines in today’s semi-finals. 

With the quarter-final win, the Thais clinched one of four berths for Asia at next year’s 20-team world meet in Peru.

“I’m very glad my girls have accomplished the target of a semi-final place in the championship,” commented Thailand’s head coach Tanasak Rattanarangsri. “The semi-finals will be a much tougher task as we are likely to take on Korea. We have to go back and study their tap and get our players prepared for the match.”

The other quarter-finals saw world champions China thrash Taiwan in straight sets 25-12 25-18 25-17 and defending champions Japan crush New Zealand 25-13 25-7 25-5. South Korea were due to take on the Philippines at press time.