Thai girls taste first win

[VOLLEYBALL] Thailand eventually broke the jinx in the World Cup following a hard-fought five-set 25-15 23-25 22-25 25-13 15-10 win over Kenya in Komaki Park Arena, Nagoya, Japan on Wednesday.

This match was a huge match for both teams as both were winless coming into the game and there was a chance that the losers would go home without a victory.

Thailand, in their preparation for the title defence in the forthcoming SEA Games on home soil between December 6 and 15, had the better record, having won five sets to Kenya's zero.

The Thais kicked off in typical slick fashion, with Rattanaporn Sanuanram delivering two crisp spikes to help move into a 4-1 lead. A nicely placed soft shot by powerful hitter Pleumjit Thinkaow brought the first technical timeout with the Thais 8-4 up.

Fiercely-attacker Onuma Sittirak then moved into top gear with four thumping spikes as the Thais extended their lead to six points at 12-6. Kenya's main threat, the big-hitting Dorcas Ndasaba, landed a crashing hit but the Kenyans just weren't creating enough spiking chances to damage the Thais.

Pluemjit hit consecutive spikes, both from slick short sets by Nootsara Tomkom, and the Thais were soon 21-9 up. Kenya captain Catherine Wanjiru landed two hits before Onuma responded with a massive blast. Narumon Khanan brought setpoint with a spike and Rattanaporn put the Thais 1-0 up.

The Thai squad dropped their rhythm to go down in the following two sets 23-25 22-25 before storming back mightily to win the last two sets 25-13 15-10.

Pluemjit led the Thai team with 18 points including 14 kills and two solid blocks, while Dorcas topscored 17 points including 15 attacks for Kenya.

Pleased with his side's first win in the star-studded tournament, national coach Nataphon Srisamutnak said, "We are happy to win today. In the first set we did quite well, but in the second and third sets we had problems, mainly the better serves by Kenya.

"Also we didn't receive the ball well, while Kenya did a better job on receiving. They had a good defensive system that allowed them to attack us more. In the fourth set, we did better on our serve and our No. 11 player (Amphon Hyapha) served very well and helped us get a lot of points that made our job easier.In the next two matches against Peru and Poland, we will try to pick up wins.

Thai captain Wilavan Apinyapong said, "We are very happy about the win today and my teammates are all very happy. I think we tried too much and pushed ourselves because we thought we must win today. But by trying so hard, we became a little nervous, but in the end we managed to control ourselves and get the win."

A total of 12 teams - Brazil, Italy, Cuba, the USA, Japan, South Korea, Kenya, Poland, Peru, Dominican Republic, Serbia and Thailand are competing in the single round-robin World Cup.

Only top three teams after the end of the contest on November 16 will join hosts and Olympic champions China to the next year's Bejing Olympic Games.

The Nation, FIVB news