Despite playing in front of the packed Indoor Stadium in Bangkok, three-time world champions Japan proved too strong and consistent as they secured a 3-0 (25-20, 25-23, 25-23) victory that extended their winning streak against their continental rivals to 10 matches, reports the Bangkok Post.
Japan will now face the Netherlands, who eliminated two-time defending champions Serbia with a 3-2 (27-25, 26-24, 22-25, 20-25, 15-11) victory earlier yesterday. Their quarter-final encounter will be held on Wednesday.
“It was a tough game, and a difficult one to play. You can see that the Japanese team have good standard and are well prepared. Both team have similar playing style but we weren’t as good as we should have been in the latter stage of each set. We made too many errors. But everyone did their best,” said Kiattipong.
“The players know they will have to train harder and develop more. Today’s game showed that we still need to improve in so many areas.
“This world championship was a great experience for all the players. After this, some players will have to go play overseas and some will train here in Thailand. We need to prepare as best we can for the SEA Games later this year.”
Outside hitter Chatchu-On Moksri, who registered 12 points (10 kills, one block, one ace) was Thailand’s top scorer while opposite Pimpichaya Kokram added 11 (nine kills, two blocks) in their last match in the tournament.
Japan captain Mayu Ishikawa was the team’s leading scorer with 14 points (13 kills and one ace) while middle blocker Haruyo Shimamura scored 12 (nine kills, two aces, one block).
“Thailand are a great team,” said Shimamura. “We had some really long rallies, and we never gave up and tried to do our best in each point. Winning today is big for us. Our goal here is to win a medal, and we’re one step closer. Now we’ll focus on the next match and try to do our best again.”
Without their injured star opposite Tijana Boskovic, Serbia managed to come back from two sets down and pushed the match to five sets, but it was the Dutch team who dominated the tie-breaker as they booked the first quarter-final spot of the tournament.
“I cannot believe it! I feel really happy!” said outside hitter Marrit Jasper. “I feel really proud of the team. I think everybody was fighting a lot. The first two sets were really close and after that we dropped down a little bit, but we fought back at the right moment. A quarter-final was our first goal and now we go on to the next goal.”
“It is very disappointing that we lost. We made a comeback from 2-0 to 2-2 and, when you make such a comeback, you expect to win. So, this is going to hurt for a while and, hopefully, we remember this pain for the next years and learn from it,” said Serbia opposite Vanja Bukilic.