Vinh Phuc, Vietnam, May 1, 2023 – Devastating Diamond Food Fine Chef-Air Force powered their way to the final showdown of the 2023 Asian Women’s Club Volleyball Championship at the Vinh Phuc Gymnasium here following their exceptional straight-set win against King Whale Taipei in the highly-anticipated semifinals on Monday.
Wipawee Srithong chipped in with 17 points including 15 attacks for Diamond Food, with Serbian Natasa Cikiriz and Kanjana Kuthaisong adding 16 and 8 points respectively. Wu Fang-Yu scored 15 attacking points on King Whale Taipei’s losing effort.
The thrilling 25-19, 25-19, 25-23 win carried the former consecutive two-time Thailand League winners to the showdown, which guaranteed them at least the silver medal, a step better than they made at the previous edition in Semey, Kazakhstan last year when they returned with well-earned third place and bronze medal. However, Diamond Food head coach Kittikun Sri-utthawong is upbeat that the gold medal could be within his team’s reach this time after they made it to the final showdown.
Diamond Food fielded a formidable lineup led by highly-skilled setter and captain Nootsara Tomkom and four Thailand national players – Sasipaporn Janthawisut, Wipawee Srithong, Tichakorn Boonlert and Kaewkalaya Kamulthala, all of them joined the Thailand’s VNL campaign in 2022. Moreover, the Thai team were also strengthen by the 193cm-tall Natasa Cikiriz from Serbia.
Spearheading King Whale Taipei were hard-attacking Wu Fang-Yu and two powerful hitters Lin Shu-Ho and Flavio De Carvalho Beatriz from Brazil. The Chinese Taipei side also welcomed back middle blocker Oliveira Fabiano Gabriela, who sustained her right ankle in the previous match against Japan’s Hisamitsu Springs on April 27, but she was fit physically on Monday and joined the team in the match against the Thai side.
In the opening set, King Whale Taipei made a solid start to narrowly lead 4-2 before Diamond Food fought back aggressively, with powerful Wipawee methodically tearing the rivals’ defence into shreds with her fierce spikes. Leading 16-12, the Thai side lost their touch and became more prone to unforced mistakes and poor reception, allowing King Whale Taipei many attacking opportunities including four back-to-back points, thanks to Wu Fang-Yu’s lightning-fast attacks from the back row.
Diamond Food replaced Sasipaporn with Kanjana Kuthaisong and the intention paid off its dividend when the Thai team started to produce the goods. Diamond Food played impeccable defence and the rivals found it very difficult to get through. The Thai team continued their superb form to win the first set 25-19.
The second set was once again closely-contested. Diamond Food caught up with King Whale Taipei at 7-7 and again 14-14. However, the Thai team just had enough left in their tank and they attacked powerfully, blocked solidly and dropped effectively to move ahead 22-17. Kanjana was on fire, puncturing the rivals’ defence with her mighty attacks to score two points in a row and bring in the set point 24-17. A Wu Fang-Yu’s back-row attack saved one set point for King Whale Taipei and Calvalho Beatriz repeated it for the team with her attack before Kanjana again fired home with her sharp blow. Diamond Food claimed the set 25-19.
In the third set, King Whale Taipei played as if they had nothing to lose. They led from the beginning 5-2 until half way 18-15. From there, Wipawee and Natasa gave Diamond Food a strong comeback when Wipawee came from behind to attack powerfully at the net and Natasa overcame the smaller blockers with her aggressive attacks for the team’s 20-20 tie. After that, both sides fought neck and neck until the score was leveled at 23-23, but the Thai side fared better at home stretch to score two consecutive points to stop a good run of King Whale Taipei. Diamond Food captured the hard-fought set 25-23, match and a final berth.
“It’s the real target of Diamond Food that we have to make it to the final. Now my team have our sights set on winning the title no matter which team we will play in the final (Vietnam’s Sport Center 1 or China’s Liaoning Donghua). As we have already arrived at where we are now, we have nothing to fear. We have to improve on our mistakes and everyone in the team will gather this evening to check what the problems are and how to fix them together. In the final, which team make less mistakes deserve the champions. We will fight all-out for the best thing we can get tomorrow,” Diamond Food head coach Kittikun Sri-utthawong commented.
“I think all three sets contested today are very difficult. Our fast attacks are not that good. If we happen to play the team whose players are very fast to effectively pick up spikes, we will find it hard to beat them easily. I think our substitutions also played their part well and were supportive to the team’s success”
QUICK LINKS
AVC Website: click www.asianvolleyball.net
AVC Facebook: click www.Facebook.com/AsianVolleyballConfederation
AVC Twitter: click: www.twitter.com/AsianVolleyball
AVC Instagram: click: https://www.instagram.com/avcvolley/?hl=en
AVC Youtube: click: Asian Volleyball Confederation
AVC WeChat: Asian Volleyball Confederation