The Thai girls, who are fourth with six points from two wins against two losses, have formidable rivals in the Chinese, who are third with seven points from three wins against one loss.

Besides the encounter against China, Thailand have two more matches - a comfortable game against winless Australia and a tough tie with Taiwan. Only the top three teams will make it to the World Girls' U-18 Volleyball Championship in Mexico from July 31 to August 11.

On Thursday, the Thai girls lost a hard-fought battle to Korea 25-15 25-21 25-22, but captured the hearts of the spectators at the 1,000-seat arena. "I think my girls did a good job. Everyone tried her best," Thai head coach Thanasak Rattanarasi said.

"We should improve our receiving. In fact, we should have won the second and third sets, as we led the Koreans by big margins, but then we made many unforced mistakes and paid the penalty.

"We have a difficult match against China and getting a top-three position is tough under the circumstances. They are not only taller and stronger than our girls, but also the three-time champions. We must give them respect on that count and I told my girls to just give their best," he said.

Japan and South Korea are unbeaten in the round-robin competition and the former, who have yet to drop a set, are the favourites to win the crown.

Somporn Suphop

The Nation

Kamphaeng Phet