Day 3 Wrap Up
Nakhon Pathom, Thailand, June 26, 2022 – Formidable Thailand routed winless Uzbekistan in lop-sided affair to surge ahead undefeated India to the top of the six-team standing in the single round-robin “21st Princess Cup” 3rd AVC Women’s Challenge Cup at Nakhon Pathom Sports Centre Gymnasium here on Sunday.
Thailand, fielding their national U20 squad in their final preparation for the July 4-11 21st Asian Women’s U20 Championship in Kazakhstan, performed brilliantly in their first two encounters to brush off Hong Kong, China and Singapore with similar 3-0 wins. However, after two days of the six-day contest, India led the pack, with the host side hot on their heels in close second.
On Sunday, Thailand remained strong with their formidable lineup. Pinyada Thopo and Achirayaphorn Kumjaiboon, the top two scorers in their previous match against Singapore, joined forces in notching some crucial points for the host side. Despite a brave fight, Uzbekistan still proved no answer to the rivals’ mighty attacks to go down in a totally one-sided battle 11-25, 16-25, 8-25 to stretch it to three wins in a row.
Pinyada Thopo topscored with 15 points from 11 attacks, 2 blocks and 2 aces for Thailand, with Achirayaphorn Kumjaiboon contributing 12. No Uzbekistan player reached double digits in this match, with Dilnoza Boymirzaeva scoring only 5 points.
Achirayaphorn said after the match, “Uzbekistan played well with various tactics, while my team tried to avoid making unforced mistakes. I will do my best in the remaining two matches.”
India also proved they are another strong team to be reckoned with in this tournament. Fresh from beating Singapore and Uzbekistan in straight sets, the Indians on Sunday repeated the similar feat by seeing off Malaysia 3-0 in another comfortable clash.
However, Malaysia, which recovered from the first two sets down to beat Uzbekistan 3-2 on the opening day, showed their courage and good attacks led by the 184cm-tall powerful hitter Low Mei Cing in their tough-looking clash against the Indians, allowing the well-established rivals difficulty to get through.
Although the Indians cruised comfortably through the first two sets 25-17, 25-16, it was Low Mei Cing, whose improving efforts in the Malaysian offence changed the momentum in the third set, getting them close to winning the set, only to go down to the in-form Indians at home stretch 22-25.
After completion of the first three days, Thailand stayed atop the standing with 9 points from three wins in a row, while India dropped to second after bagging similar 9 points from three consecutive wins, but the host side had better points ratio.
The position of Hong Kong China, Malaysia, Uzbekistan and Singapore remained unchanged, with the Hong Kong girls maintaining their third spot with 6 points from 2 wins against one loss. Malaysia came in fourth place with 3 points from one win against two losses, while Uzbekistan and Singapore have yet won a single match to finish 5th and bottom 6th places.
Hong Kong, China’s second win came on Sunday when spearheaded by Lau Ho Ting and Pang Wing Lam, the Hong Kong girls sent Singapore packing in straight sets 25-13, 25-15, 25-16.
Monday, June 27 is the rest day. The single round-robin competition resumes on Tuesday, with Singapore taking on Uzbekistan, Hong Kong China challenging India and Malaysia playing hosts Thailand.
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