Thailand settles for the bronze-ware at 2010 Asian Games Beach Volleyball Tournament
Thailand’s Usa Tenpaksee and Jarunee Sannok outplayed Malaysians Luk Teck Hua and Beh Shun Thing in the third place match of the 16th Asian Games Beach Volleyball Tournament on Tuesday, 23rd November, 2010. They posted 21-18 and 21-14
in two consecutive sets and secured the bronze medal. The amazing fight continued for 39 minutes in front of over-crowded venue. Thailand achieved a milestone by winning the bronze medal after 10 years. Manassanan Phaengkha and Rattanaporn Arlaisuk scored
the first and only one gold medal for Thailand at the 1998 Asian Games in Bangkok. Since then, Thailand remained under the cover and no beach player could rise up on the international scene. However, Thailand is back in business as Usa/Jarunee saved country’s
reputation and captured the bronze medal.
First set
First set of the match saw both teams throwing fire-balls at each other. Usa of Thailand was keen to attack the defence line of Malaysia and hit unstoppable spikes. She rolled off the ball in corners and raised their score. On the other hand, Beh hit back
strongly and managed to steal points from Thailand. They improved on ball-handling and attained stability. Thailand’s team continued with attack attempts and kept adding to their score. Tricky bump passes and deceptive shots provided them an extra edge to
take lead in the game. Malaysian side remained at close distance with Thailand in score chase but failed to match their performance with Thai players. First set ended with Thailand’s dominance and they thrashed 21-18 victory over Malaysia.
Second Set
Thailand was pumped up with the sense of victory. They played in the second set with high morale. The superb delivery of the spikes and cut shots from different angles strengthened their position. Malaysian duo tried hard but couldn’t come out of red zone.
As the score soared up, Thailand became stronger, while Malaysia lost energy and hope. They were drafted under pressure, which caused them more damage. They committed too many unforced ball-reception errors and suffered the consequences in the form of defeat.
Thailand allowed them to score only 14 points in second set and closed the set. Thailand appeared as the bronze medal winner whereas Malaysia was pushed to stay at 4th position in the ranking of Women’s Beach Volleyball Championship at Asian Games.
Post Match
Usa Tenpaksee of Thailand started her career at 15 and came a long way. Throughout her career, she remained consistent and brought success for her country. She played at the Asian Games for the first time and grabbed world-wide attention for her wonderful
performance. Usa disclosed her thoughts after the match. She said, “In the first set, we did not play well. It was a very tight set as both teams tried their best to win the set. We made a lot of mistakes and we didn’t cooperate well.”
Jarunee Sannok commented, “We played cool under pressure. We just wanted to win the match to get a medal for our country although it’s just a bronze medal. However, we played nervously in the first set. We improved our performance in the second set and it paid
off impressively. I’m glad to win at last.”
Malaysian team regretted about the loss of match but it was a great achievement for the young team to play at this level. Beh said, “We are young but can play this level. No one expected that we can stand among the top four. There are many strong teams in
these Asian Games and we even didn’t know whether we could make it to the quarter-finals.”
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