Japan sweeps Thailand by 3-0: 16th Asian Volleyball Championship
With the first round of the 16th Asian Volleyball Championship over, the participating teams started their play in the 1-8 classification matches. A Pool F match of the tournament saw the Japanese competing with the Thailand squad on September
19. The two teams were playing at the Taiwan University Gymnasium in Taipei, Chinese Taipei and the Japanese walked away with dominating performance and a 3-0 win.
The Japanese, who are also third position holders of the World Championships, was able to make a clean sweep over Thailand. The Thai fought commendably in the first as well as the second sets of the match but lost each after coming close. However, the performance
of the Thai team slowed in the third set and Japan was able to secure an easy win that got them the match at the following final set scores: 25-23, 25-21, 25-19.
The player that was able to make the most points in the entire match was the Japanese player, Ebata Yukiko, who registered a total of 16 points. Yukiko was helped by her team-mate, Shinnabe Risa, who was able to make her presence felt by tallying 13 points
altogether. On the Thai side, the player that was the most active was Malika Kanthong who topped her team by putting up 11 points. Kanthong was the only Thai player who was able to make it to the double digit mark.
The start of the first set saw Thailand take the lead of five points early on. As the game proceeded, the Thai fell to making errors and this got Japan back into the game. Japan did not let go of the opportunity and were able to close in the gap. Eventually,
Japan bagged the opening set of the game at 25-23.
The second set saw the Thai enter the courts with determination and they were able to take the lead at the first technical time out at 8-3. However, Japan did not give up the chase and brought the match to a tie at 12-12. After that point, the Japanese increased
their attack and strengthened their block to secure the second set at 25-21.
Japan was able to get the lead at 8-5 in the third set. Thailand tried hard to close in the gap but Japan proved to be unstoppable as it bludgeoned Thailand and moved towards a win at 25-19.
The Japanese were able to play better than the Thai in almost all aspects of the match. Both the attack and the defence of the Japanese players were good and keept the pressure on Thailand. The attack of the Japanese side gave a hard time to Thailand by
raining down 49 spikes while Thailand mustered 35 in reply.
The recent win has given the Japanese the first slot in Pool F and a chance of claiming the title.
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