The International Volleyball Federation (FIVB) will discuss if there were irregularities in Serbia's 3-2 win over Japan in the women's final Olympic qualifying tournament in Tokyo on Sunday, Thai officials said yesterday.
Thailand defeated Cuba earlier on Sunday and the Thais would miss out on the country's first-ever Olympic berth only if Serbia won 3-2 in the final match of the tournament.
As it turned out, Serbia did beat Japan by that scoreline. The Japanese led 2-1 only for the Serbs to rally to win 3-2. Both Japan and Serbia got tickets to the 2012 Olympics at the expense of Thailand.
Somporn Chaibangyang, president of the Volleyball Association of Thailand, said yesterday FIVB president had phoned Shanrit Wongprasert, who is an executive member of both the FIVB and the Asian Volleyball Confederation, to express his sympathy for Thailand.
According to Somporn, Wei told Shanrit that "he can't believe the Japan v Serbia match ended like that."
"The FIVB president also said the reputation of the sport has been tainted by the match and that he will bring the matter to the FIVB meeting," Somporn said.
But Somporn admitted that the result would stand.
"We cannot do anything. We have to look to the future," he said.
He said Thailand had to build a new team for the 2014 Olympics because most of the current national players are likely to retire before the Rio Games.
Shanrit said it was useless to file a formal protest because there was no evidence of match-fixing.
"Our players did their best. If we had beaten South Korea instead of Serbia, we would have qualified for the London Olympics," said Shanrit.
Thailand coach Kiattipong Radchatagriengkai declined to discuss whether the Japan v Serbia match was a farce.
The national team will next play in the World Grand Prix with Thailand hosting one of the tournaments in the series in the third week of June. The other three teams in the Thailand leg are Argentina, Serbia and the US.
They will play in the Asian Cup later this year in their only other major tournament this season.
The Thai women have made fast progress over the past few years with wins over the likes of China, Serbia and Cuba.
They won their first-ever Asian title in 2009 after beating China in the final. They also reached the World Grand Prix finals for the first time last year.