Asian Games 2010 Women’s Volleyball Championship review
The Women’s Volleyball Championship at the 16th Asian Games began on 18th November, 2010. Eleven teams participated in this prestigious tournament, which has now reached its concluding stages.
The final round of the event started out on Thursday, 25th November, 2010. The teams got together for the semi-finals of positions 1-9 on Saturday. The following teams appeared in the '5-8’ category:
Japan
Mongolia
Thailand
Chinese Taipei
In the first semi-final Japan clashed with Mongolia. The underdogs, Mongolia, failed to put up with the heavy strike-force of the Japanese team and gave way to Japan’s victory.
Japan qualified for the ‘5-6’ position match on Saturday 27th November, 2010. Likewise, the second semi-final for the 5-8 position categories featured Thailand and Chinese Taipei. Thailand triumphed promoting them in the final 5-6 position.
Japan versus Mongolia 3-0 (25-15, 25-6, and 25-11)
Japan opened the match with solid serves and gained control of the game in the early few minutes. The Mongolian blockers tried to resist but failed to penetrate the power of Japan’s smashing hits. Japan easily built a lead and stretched the gap between points to earn the first-set victory at 25-15.
The following set was even worse on Mongolia’s part. The weak defense and feeble attack restricted them to a low score in the second set. On the other hand, Japan just played a natural game which paved the way for its success. Mongolia’s team could only attain 6 points in the set.
Japan continued with the same intensity and quickly covered the duration of the third set. Mongolia failed to gain any respect in front of the stronger Japanese team. Japan declared match-victory by winning, 25-11, in the third set.
The head-coach of Japan, Yukio, called it an easy competition for the victors. He said,
"We played our own way and at our own pace, so we won. I believe in our strength and feel no pressure. Mongolia still plays at a basic level, but they will get stronger in the future”.
Thailand versus Chinese Taipei 3-0 (25-13, 25-22, and 29-27)
Thailand clashed with Chinese Taipei in the second semi-final (5-8 positions) on Thursday, 25th November, 2010.
The start of the match was not very good. The teams played an average game. Gradually they picked up pace when Onuma Sittirak started the hard-hitting. She directed the ball towards the right spots and earned points for Thailand.
Malika Kanthong complemented her team mate and both stormed the opponents’ side with ground-breaking shots. Chinese Taipei’s players could only see the ball moving through their legs. The weak defense caused them to lose the first set. Thailand captured the set with a strong lead of 12 points (25-13).
Chinese Taipei put-up a great fight in the second set. They picked up a lead of three points in the start. However, Thailand jumped back in the game and overcame the deficit soon. Both sides attacked each other and the score soared up with a narrow gap. The see-saw battle continued and finally Thailand got the perfect kill to end the set 25-23.
The third set of the match was a real test of attack and defense capabilities of both teams. Powerful shots from both teams were seen in the third set. Thailand wanted to end the game by winning the third set but Chinese Taipei refused to accept defeat so easily.
They attacked with full might and got their best figures of the match. The score was tied at 23-23 and then at 27-27. Finally the battle came to end and Thailand won the third set 29-27. Thailand earned a slot for the 5th position match with Japan on Saturday.
Thailand's head-coach, Kiattipong Radchatagriengkai, said, “We tried our best. We have been fighting in matches for six months and the players are very tired. Today, we had to adjust our thinking and faced the game with a different attitude. We are going to try our best to face Japan and confident to win over Japan”.
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