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Published on July 22, 2007

As the large crowd of more than 4,000 supporters were cheering the home side, the tall and towering Chinese played cool under pressure. Leading commandingly 15-10, the Chinese silenced the crowd with their acrobatic smashes. Zhao Yanni tore the Thai defence apart with her devastating cross-court spikes to help the visitors win the first set 25-16.

The second and third set became more thrilling as the Thai girls fought back gallantly. China mixed the offensive combination of devastating spikes by Yang Junjing with blocks by Yin Na and Hui Ruoqi to win 25-23 and 25-18 and take the exciting match.

After the match, Thai head coach said: "We played a close match against China today. We made too many unforced mistakes. I think my girls were taken aback by the fame and reputation of the Chinese

side.

"In the second set, we played more confidently and came close to the Chinese. However, we lost eventually. We have to play the USA for the next match and again it's not going to be easy."

Meanwhile, Brazil tamed Japan 3-0 (25-16 25-19 25-13), Ukraine downed Puerto Rico 3-0 (25-21 25-21 25-22), Italy narrowly beat Croatia 3-0 (26-24 25-23 25-21), USA outclassed Egypt 3-0 (32-20 25-12 25-23) and Germany beat the Dominican Republic 3-0 (25-12 25-21 25-21).

Preechachan  Wiriyanupappong

The Nation

NAKHON RATCHASIMA