2006 World Championships   More World Championship news       Tournament info: Thailand

Thailand dream over as Kazakhstan continue excellent form

Bangkok, Thailand, August 3, 2005 - Thailand's sweet dreams of qualifying for next year's 2006 Women's World Championship finals in Japan turned into a nightmare on Wednesday when the host side suffered a bitter 3-1 (20-25 25-19 23-25 24-26) defeat at the hands of South Korea in the do-or-die match in the Asia Group B tournament at the Ratchaburi Gymnasium.

Thailand on Monday left the battleground disappointed after they were annihilated 3-1 by a fired-up Kazakhstan in their opener. The Kazakhs, whose height average is 183cm against the host girls' 177cm, made the most of their height advantage to spike devastatingly and block scintillatingly to stun the consecutive six-time SEA Games champions.

The disappointing loss to Kazakhstan gave Thailand a slim chance of finishing in the top two in the single round-robin tournament because they next were to take on formidable South Korea, who finished fifth in the Athens Olympic Games and sixth at the previous World Championships in Germany.

South Korea, ranked eighth in the world, had to trail Thailand all the way in the opening set. However, after drawing level at 10-10, the Koreans sneaked ahead and won the first set 25-20. Cheered on by a large crowd, the Thai girls started to play better in the second set, where Wilavan Apinyapong and Amporn Hyapha made a splendid offensive combination to spike devastatingly at the
net. Their determination paid off impressively as Thailand took the second set 25-19.

The Thai squad trailed the visitors 4-8 in the third set before hard-attacking Saimai Pladsrichuay uncorked a series of powerful spikes to help the team reduce the margin at 22-23. The Koreans, however, marched on their superiority to win the hard-fought third set 25-23.

The fourth set saw a see-saw battle as both sides gave everything they had. However, it was the Koreans who attacked relentlessly to win the thrilling set 26-24 and the match. Korea's triumph dashed Thailand's dreams of competing in the World Championship Finals for the third consecutive time.

After the match, Thai head coach Suthichai admitted that his girls could not play cool under pressure. In crucial moments, they made more mistakes on serving.

"In fact, we tried to correct our serving problem before arriving in Ratchaburi, but in the crucial moments, they still produced the error-filled serves," he said. "I think my girls need more concentration. They could not play cool under pressure. I have to see if there are more new talents to join our team for the future major tournaments. In the last two matches against the Philippines and Tonga, I might field more substituted players in order that they can learn."

"It's a tough match against hosts Thailand," Korean head coach Kim
Hyung-Sil said. They played well, but they always came out with serving mistakes. I'm happy with the way my girls played. Our defence is very good and they could block the Thai spikes effectively. I'm also happy that we could beat Thailand. We now brighten our chance of winning the berth to play in the next year's Finals in Japan although we might lose to Kazakhstan in the next match. I hope my girls will try their best in the match against Kazakhstan."
 
The other match on Wednesday saw unbeaten Kazakhstan mercilessly crush lacklustrous Tonga in a lop-sided battle 25-4 25-16 25-9. On Thursday, Kazakhstan face South Korea and Thailand take on the Philippines.