Asian Champion Thailand beats Argentina in third round: 2011 FIVB Grand Prix - Volleyball
The Keelawes 1 Gymnasium in Bangkok, Thailand, hosted a wonderful match on Friday, August 19 which featured teams from Thailand and Argentina. The Asian Champions, Thailand, proved to be too good for the competition and finished the game
in straight sets. Argentina couldn’t penetrate the power of the strikes from the host team and accepted a 0-3 (23-25, 15-25, and 14-25) defeat. More than 4,000 spectators witnessed the action live in the sports arena as both teams played under Pool K in the
third round of 2011 FIVB Grand Prix.
Key players
Pleumjit Thinkaow and Malika Kanthong of Thailand put up a really good effort for their team. They registered 16 and 14 points, respectively. They settled for the titles of first and second best scorers for the match. None of the Argentinean players could
go into double figures and Lucia Fresco was the top contributor as she clipped nine points on 36 attempts.
Match overview
Argentina showed good fighting spirit in the opening set of the match and they made good progress via Fresco as she delivered sharp spikes. In response, Thailand brought Amporn Hyapha and Pleumjit into action. The first set was even play as the score didn’t
experience a huge difference. In the end, Thailand managed to claim the set but it was hard earned win with a narrow gap of two points.
However, the following two sets of the game came as a total disaster for Argentina. The total line-up of Argentina failed to make any impression on the rival side and the visitors seemed to have lost form and ended up with a final score of 15 and 14 in respective
sets. On the other hand, Thailand played with full potential and achieved the set point quickly. Thailand was tagged as the winner of the third round opener while Argentina suffered the loss.
Comments and quotes
The mentor of Argentinean squad, Horacio Bastit, said after the match, “Thailand played well. They are getting better and better. We hope to play another friendly match against them to learn more tactics from them.”
Meanwhile, Kiattipong Radchatagriengkai, the coach of winning team, said that Argentina had never faced Thailand before and it was difficult for them to score in the first set but his players did a great job. He congratulated his team for winning the match.
He also appreciated the support of fans in the difficult moments of the game. Expressing his views about the next match, he stated: “In our next match against Cuba, it must be very tough. We beat them before in the first week, but after that they came back
stronger in the second week. We have to study their tapes and prepare a plan to play them in Saturday’s match.”
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