Thailand celebrate their second victory in two days
Lausanne, Switzerland, September 21, 2017 – Thailand and China made it two wins from two, on day two of the Japan 2018 FIVB Volleyball Women's World Championship - AVC Qualification Tournament that is taking place at Baluan Sholak Sports Palace in Almaty and at the Nakhon Pathom Gymnasium in Thailand, on Thursday.
Two pools are currently taking place for AVC qualifying – one in Almaty and one in Nakhon Pathom in Thailand. Both pools run from September 20-24 and feature a single round-robin format, where the top two teams will earn the right to compete in the World Championship.
Pool A features China, Chinese Taipei, Australia, Fiji and Kazakhstan, while Pool B is made up of Korea, DPR Korea, Iran, Vietnam and Thailand.
Pool B hosts Thailand defeated Vietnam 3-0 (25-17 25-17 25-17). Thailand’s Ajcharaporn Kongyot was top scorer with 14 points that consisted of 12 attacks, one block and one ace. Captain Pleumjit Thinkaow contributed 11 points from four attacks, four blocks and three aces.
“My team’s performance is satisfactory today,” Thailand head coach Danai Sriwacharamaytakul said. “However, I must praise Vietnam for their improved receiving. I think we still have to improve on our combination attacks. If we have good reception, I believe we can effectively match DPR Korea in our next clash.”
In the other Pool B match DPR Korea defeated Iran 3-0 (25-23, 25-11, 25-18).
In Pool A Olympic champions China defeated pool hosts Kazakhstan 3-0 (25-14, 25-19, 25-15), with captain Zhu Ting leading scoring from 18 points from 15 attacks, two blocks and a service ace.
China coach An Jiajie added “It was a challenging match, and for us, it was, at times, difficult to play. But still, we managed to find the best solution to win against Kazakhstan team.”
Australia won their first match of the qualifier, with a 3-0 (25-18, 25-16, 25-10) victory over Fiji in pool A. Rebecca Reeve was the top scorer with 12 points from nine attacks and three service aces.
“It was a great game by the entire team, with our first win in this tournament,” Reeve said. “It is a good start for us and hopefully it works well from here and we will see what we can bring into the next match.”
