Thailand suffer two straight losses at World Olympic Qualification Tournament in Japan
Fired-up Netherlands annihilated off-form Thailand in comfortable straight sets 25-14 25-16 25-20 in their third encounter at the FIVB World Olympic Qualification Tournament in Japan, forcing the Asian world No.13 to fight with their back against the wall
Thailand,, which clinched their historic bronze medal at the Asian Games in 2014 in Incheon, South Korea, had this match marked down as one it had to win to guarantee a top four finish this week, while the Dutch needed to get back in the winner’s circle after being well-beaten by Korea on Sunday.
Thailand started dismally to trail the Dutchwomen behind 1-5 in the opening set. Fast spikes by Pleumjit Thinkaow and Thatdao Nuekjang helped the Thai team narrow the margin 11-15. However, from then on, the Thais found it tough going. The Netherlands, whose height average is 187cm against the Thais’ 175cm, used their height advantage to attack devastatingly and block scintillatingly as they allowed Thailand only three more points to wrap up the first set 25-14.
For Thailand, hard-attacking Onuma Sittirak with eight points was capitalising on the excellent setting of Nootsara Tomkom, but the set quickly slipped away from the Thais.
Thai head coach Kiattipong Radchatagriengkai, realising the Olympic dream was under threat, tried several different attack combinations in an effort of counting the much taller Europeans, but nothing worked well as the Netherlands took the second set 25-16.
Conceding successive two sets, Thailand gathered their courage and hit back bravely with fine attacks from Onuma and lightning-fast spikes from Pleumjit to tie the score at 17-17. Nonetheless, Celeste Plak let rip with one of the serves of the tournament so far, leaving the Thai receivers flat-footed.
Plak followed up with another thunderbolt, snuffing out the brave challenge Thailand had mounted to try and stay in the match 25-20.
Lonneke Sloetjes scored a match-high 20 points for the Netherlands, while Onuma emerged as the top scorer of Thailand with 11 points.
“It’s a pity we could not beat the Netherlands. They are very strong and played superbly against us. They put much pressure on our team from the beginning of the game. Additionally, I think that my players made too many unforced mistakes. Our reception failed to make their mark and when we became more prone with mistakes, we would lack confidence,” coach Kiattipong said.
“We have to learn from the past mistakes and try to boost our spirit and confidence. I’m upbeat that we still have chance despite the fact that it might be rather difficult. Our next match against Japan will be one of the toughest matches in this tournament, but we will do our best to keep our Olympic dreams alive,” he added.
Former team captain Wilavan Apinyapong said, “As far as I’m concerned, we just intend to do our best, but it turned out to be frustration. I think we still have chance to win the Olympic berth here. However, we have to play carefully according to the training plan. I admit that we played below standard. We have to regroup and prove our ability in the following matches.”
Meanwhile, the other matches saw Peru power past Kazakhstan in dramatic four sets 19-25 25-22 25-23 25-23, Italy thrash Dominican Republic in straight sets 25-22 25-23 25-23 and hosts Japan go down their first match to Korea 26-28 17-25 25-17 19-25.
On Wednesday, Thailand will go up against Japan, Peru take on Italy, Korea challenge Kazakhstan and the Netherlands play Dominican Republic.
After the end of the round-robin competition among eight teams on May 22, the best-ranked Asian team plus the top three teams will be eligible for the 2006 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro in August.
