Manila, Philippines, August 10, 2017 – To the delight of the fans in attendance, world-class setter and Thailand ace Nootsara Tomkom finally saw action in the SMM 19th Asian Senior Women’s Volleyball Championship Thursday against Iran.
With Nootsara, Pornpun Guedpard and Tichaya Boonlert—all playmakers—seeing action and combining for 36 excellent sets, the Thais easily outpaced the Iranians 25-18, 25-12, 25-16 to improve to a 2-0 record with Chinese Taipei as their last assignment left in the first round.
“I think we played better than yesterday. This is just our second game in the Philippines. Tomorrow, I hope, we will improve more,” said Wilavan Apinyapong, who, despite the limited playing time, contributed 4 points to her team’s winning cause.
As veterans Nootsara, Wilavan and Pleumjit Thinkaow get well-deserved rest following their stint at the 2017 FIVB World Grand Prix, Thailand’s new wave of stars took the challenge with Chatchu-on Moksri leading the charge via 13 markers.
Talking about the gruelling schedule of the Thai spikers, Wilavan said: “Our team had a lot of games before this tournament. We played in the Grand Prix for three weeks. After that we had only 9 days to prepare for this. Our coach and our staff teach us how to keep our energy and performance up.”
In the 2015 edition of the same tournament that was held in Tianjin, China, Thailand took bronze.
Asked about her team’s chances of going all the way in the competition this year, Wilavan said she hopes that the trend of winning the gold every four years continues for team Thailand.
“I hope we can win again this time. First time we had our championship was in 2009. In 2011, we did not win. And in 2013 we won again. It’s like every other year we win. I hope this year will be lucky for our team,” shared the outside hitter.
Related links of AVC
AVC Website: click www.asianvolleyball.net
AVC Facebook: click www.Facebook.com/
AVC Twitter: click: https://twitter.com/avcvolley
AVC Instagram: click: https://www.instagram.com/
AVC Youtube: click: Asian Volleyball Confederation