Chang ride tide of support to first win

More than 3,000 fans turned up at The Mall Nakhon Ratchasima’s MCC Hall on Monday to give the home team, who lost their first match, a boost. The resulting atmosphere spurred the Chang side to puncture the visitors’ defence with an array of spectacular spikes and solid blocks. The teamwork was excellent and it showed in the scores.

However, despite the win, Thai head coach Kiattipong Radchatagriengkai identified room for improvement. Ever the perfectionist, Kiattipong said his team’s serves were poor and spikes dismal and that they made too many unforced errors in the third set.

Leading 24-11 and needing only one point to wrap up the match, Chang seemed to lose concentration. The visitors regrouped and hit back to take six straight points before the powerful Onuma Sittirak hit a cross-court winner to end their challenge 25-17.

 “I appreciate the fight by the Vietnamese side. They were very determined and made it tough for us. It’s very important that we learn fast from the mistakes we made,” said Kiattipong, who had special praise for his younger players.

“We gave a chance to the youngsters to play with seniors. I wanted to see whether they are good enough to take over from the seniors when they get the call in future. Young Sontaya Keawbundit, Ajcharaporn Kongyot and Pornpun Guedpard were quite impressive in the match.”

Chang were due to take on Iran’s Gitipasand late last night.

Meanwhile, unbeaten Toray Arrows of Japan scored their fourth straight win in Pool A yesterday with a convincing 25-10 25-4 25-9 victory over Burma’s Asia World VC.

The other encounter saw Zhetyssu of Kazakhstan thrash San Barbara Polo & Racquet club, Malaysia, 25-13 25-6 25-15.