Thai volleyball needs infusion of young talent

Thailand are now testing their mettle in the two-phase China International Women’s Volleyball Tournament, ending on Friday, in Ningbo and Shenzhen. The event also features Cuba, China and Puerto Rico.

The invitational tournament will serve as an ideal preparation for Thailand for several major tournaments this year, including the World Grand Prix, the Asian Championship, the World Championship Qualification Asian Zone and the Universiade.

Ranked 12th in the world, Thailand recorded their best-ever World Grand Prix result last year when they qualified for the final six for the second successive year before finishing an amazing fourth among 16 teams.

The Thai spikers also made a big impact when they stunned reigning two-time champions China to capture the AVC Cup for the first time in history. At the end of the previous season, seven Thai players signed a six-month contract with Igtisadchi Baku to play in the Azerbaijan Super League, each earning millions of baht.

The new season has already kicked off and many strong teams, including the two Asian powerhouses – China and Japan – are ready for new challenges. Thailand are anxious about future successes, but their inspired efforts have not been sufficient to break the stranglehold of the two giants.

China are preparing for the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics while Japan, third at the London Games, have their sights on becoming the world’s top team.

To reach their target, China have set a long-term development plan. There has been a major reshuffle of their line-up, with new young talents joining the team, while Japan have announced 44 young guns in their national squad.

Thailand, on the other hand, have almost a similar line-up as last year. All the key players are getting on in age. Libero Wanna Buakaew is aged 32 and Pleumjit Thinkaow 30.

Without doubt, due to the age factor, they will be more vulnerable to exhaustion when involved in tough encounters. The longer they play tough matches, the more they will become error-prone, which could cost the team heavily.

The Thailand roster did not change much when the China tournament kicked off on Friday. The 180cm Jarusporn Bandasak was the only newcomer in the team. It’s hard to say if that is the right decision.

According to the other three teams, the China tournament will serve as a stepping stone for major successes in future competitions. Former consecutive three-time Olympic champions Cuba fielded a 14-year-old girl, Melisa Vargas, seemingly the youngest player ever to join a national team. The highly experienced Thais struggled hard to beat the young Cuban side 3-2 in the curtain-raiser on Friday, a far cry from their performance last year when the Thais beat a very tactical Cuban team easily.

I believe most Thai fans see the need for a reshuffle in the Thai team. It’s time for change.

In my point of view, young guns should be called up to join the national team. This will give them more chances to learn from the senior players so that they can be ready to replace the retiring players when the time comes. By fielding more young talent, we might face failure in the China tournament. But today’s failure may pave the way for success tomorrow.