Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand, May 16, 2017 – Sri Lanka tasted their first win at the SMM 2nd Asian Women’s U23 Volleyball Championship at The Mall Nakhon Ratchasima’s MCC Hall after defeating Macao in thrilling four sets 25-23, 24-26, 25-21, 26-24 at the 9th-13th classification round on Tuesday.
The Sri Lankans, who finished third in Pool C, took on Macao, third place in Pool A. Both sides suffered two straight losses in their respective pools at the round-robin preliminaries.
Sri Lanka had an impressive start to win the hard-fought opening set 25-23. With coach Cheong Ka Chon giving his players a tip to challenge their opponents, Macao found their touch to put up a good fight and claimed the hotly-contested second set 26-24. Sri Lanka fared better in crucial moments of the next two sets to win the third and closely-contested fourth 25-21, 26-24 and match.
Perera Kanahalage Thilini topscored with 13 points for Sri Lanka. Law Weng Sam scored a match-high 21 points for Macao including 5 ace serves, with Leong On Leng adding 19 points.
“I am very happy for my team victory. They gave me a special present because today is my birthday. We had two losses in the first round, but I think we played a good match today. I trained my team only three months before playing in this tournament in Thailand. I hope that my players will gain more experience playing against strong teams and hopefully we will finish this tournament with a good position,” Sri Lanka’s head coach Indrajith said after the match.
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