Thailand seal world meet berth

Thailand seal world meet berth

Clash with mighty South Koreans to determine Pool B winners in Nakhon Pathom this evening

Thai players and coaching staff celebrate their 3-0 victory over North Korea yesterday.
Thai players and coaching staff celebrate their 3-0 victory over North Korea yesterday.

Nakhon Pathom: On-song Thailand yesterday booked their ticket to the FIVB Volleyball Women's World Championship in Japan next year.

To the delight of another sold-out crowd at Nakhon Pathom Sports Centre Gymnasium yesterday, the Kingdom's spikers defeated North Korea 3-0 (25-21, 25-21, 25-19) for their third straight win in Pool B of the final Asian qualifiers.

They will join South Korea at the 2018 world championship.

The South Koreans, led by superstar captain Kim Yeon-Koung, earlier took their spot in the world meet following a 3-0 (25-21, 25-13, 25-16) victory over Vietnam.

Today's last qualifying match between Thailand and South Korea at 6.15pm will decide the pool winners. Both teams are unbeaten with three straight-set victories each, but Thailand occupy the top spot in the pool with a better points ratio.

Thailand beat South Korea in the semi-finals of the Asian Women's Championship in the Philippines last month.

Vietnam and Iran, both winless after three games, face off at 3.30pm today in a battle to avoid finishing last in the pool.

North Korea put on a battling performance in their final match of the qualifying campaign in an attempt to keep alive their hopes of making it to Japan. They are now out of contention with two wins and two losses.

Captain Pleumjit Thinkaow admitted the victory was a big relief for the team.

"It is such a relief that we got the win we wanted today. We knew it would be tough against North Korea and they played well."

"Now that we have already qualified for the world championship, everybody can play without pressure in tomorrow's game against South Korea," she said.

"I would like to thank all the young players in the team who gave their all and combined so well against an opponent we don't get a chance to play very often."

Wilavan Apinyapong added: "Tomorrow we will battle South Korea for the top spot in the pool, so I hope the fans will pack the gymnasium again.

"Although both teams have already qualified for Japan, finishing as pool winners is very important because it might get us an easier draw in the finals in Japan.

"Besides we would love to beat South Korea again after we defeated them at the Asian Championship last month."

Pleumjit added: "I think the fans love seeing us play South Korea because it's always a good fight between the two teams. And South Korea have many fans in Thailand as well."

At Almaty's Baluan Sholak Sports Palace, China overpowered Australia 3-0 (25-15, 25-6, 25-20) for their third straight win in Pool A.

Hosts Kazakhstan were due to face Taiwan late last night.

Taiwan face China and Fiji face Kazakhstan in their final matches today.

The winners and runners-up from each pool of the Asia qualifiers advance to the final 24-nation tournament to be held in Japan from Sept 29 to Oct 20 next year.

Japan have already qualified for the finals as the host country, along with the United States, who are the defending champions.

South Korea's Kim Yeon-Koung, left, spikes the ball against Vietnam.

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