Thailand’s Spikers women’s volleyball team has succumbed to Germany in the second round of the FIVB Championship in Poland. According to The Bangkok Post, this was the second successive defeat for the team as they lost to Canada at the beginning of their second-round bid. The Germans won the first two games with scores of 25-19 and 24-22. The Spikers then took the third game at 25-18. But, the Germans won as they took the fourth game at 25-23.
The volleyball team will take a break today after yesterday’s loss before finishing the second round. On Friday and Saturday, the No. 13 world-ranked Spikers will play against No. 4 ranked Serbia and the No. 1 ranked USA respectively. Thailand won’t have to play the other teams in their pool (Pool F) of Poland, the Dominican Republic, and Turkey. Those teams also came from the first-round pool.
The FIVB championship is being held in Poland and the Netherlands until October 15. The top four teams will advance to the quarter-finals. Thailand won against Croatia, Turkey, the Dominican Republic, and South Korea, while suffering only one loss to Poland. Those results boosted Thailand to No. 13 in the world rankings. Coach Danai Wacharasrimaytakul says the first round was a record-setter for the team.
“This was our best-ever result in the first round of a world championship.”
The team setter, Pronpun Guedpard, says the second-round opponents are strong.
“We will give our all to reach the third round [quarter-finals].”
The Spikers are playing in their seventh world championship. So far, their best rankings were No. 13 at the 2010 and 2018 tournaments. The team’s ultimate goal is to win a bid at the 2024 Olympics in Paris, but there are only 11 slots available. The Olympics qualifying tournament will be held in September and October of 2023.
The FIVB ranking is important as it will only take 24 teams to the qualifying rounds. On October 17, the women’s team rankings will be released with the Spikers crossing their fingers.