Dominican Republic rally to subdue the challenge of Thailand

The disappointing 1425 2520 2521 2826 loss in the alldebutants battle was the third consecutive time that Thailand went down to the world No 14 team. Thailand had already lost to the Dominicans twice - 32 in the 2007 World Cup in Japan and a straightset loss in the last year's World Olympic Qualification Tournament.

Both sides are making debut in the topflight competition. In September, Dominican Republic powered past Puerto Rico 32 to capture the Norceca (North and Central America) crown for the first time, while Thailand also did likewise by stunning perennial superpowers China 31 to reign supreme in the Asian meet.

Powerful hitter Onuma Sittirak led Thailand with 19 points including 15 deadly spikes from 31 attempts, while Prisilla Rivera scored the similar 19 points for Dominican Republic.

Thailand sank to 02 in the sixteam event. A daunting task awaits Thailand today when they next take on hosts Japan, who are looking to avenge their 31 loss to the Thais in the Asian meet.

Despite yesterday's defeat, Thai head coach Kiattipong Radchatagriengkai was happy with his girls' peformance.

 "We must give the Dominicans plenty of credit for their great performance. They played well particularly in serves and attacking. My girls also performed well but just came up short with unforced errors at some critical moments," Kiattipong said.

"Our next match against Japan is a very tough one. I think Japan, as hosts, are the only team who had come into the tournament with good preparation. We have to fight the team and their crowd. We must play with confidence and determination. However, Japan are not that good in blocking. To match them competitively, we have to attack from the back court to foil their counterattacking attempts. I hope my players will do their best."

Elsewhere, twotime European champions Italy survived a sturdy challenge from wildcard South Korea to win 32 (2426 2426 2826 2519 159).