Thailand wins over Brazil

The second week of competition of the premier women's volleyball tournament kicked off yesterday, with world No 1 Brazil, who are the reigning and seven-time champions, Asian powerhouse China, who are world No 5 and Doha Asian Games winners, Poland, and Thailand vying for honours in Pool E.

Brazil proved indomitable despite the Thai girls trying hard to get past their formidable blockers with some good spikes. However, the Brazilians, whose average height is 186cm against the Thai 176cm, dominated the one-sided battle tactically and technically.

Despite the loss, Thai head coach Kiattipong Radchatagriengkai lauded the courage shown by his players against the world's best team.

"The Brazilians are too strong. They are much taller than us, they played hard and used their height advantage to foil our spiking attempts," he said.

"I think they did good homework for the match against us. They learned how to cope with our tactics and followed their game plan. However, I'm happy with my girls' performance. They showed that they have already improved in ball reception and serving.

"We next take on China tomorrow [today]. As far as I'm concerned, China is not as strong as Brazil. They serve well, but I think we can make a good match of it. We will try to gain more points from the Chinese and if we have a chance, we will try to beat them."