Women’s Nations League volleyball: Japan recover from 2 sets down to beat Thailand 3-2
World No 5 team, who move to the top of the tournament standings, finished runners-up last year and hope to go one better this time
Japan continued their dominance of the FIVB Volleyball Women’s Nations League on Wednesday, coming back from two sets down to beat Thailand 3-2 at Hong Kong’s Kai Tak Arena and move to the top of the tournament rankings.
Before their Hong Kong campaign got under way, world No 5 team Japan had a flawless week in Ottawa, Canada, at the beginning of June, winning all four of their games without dropping a set.
But they were made to work for their victory this time around, as world No 14 Thailand came close to pulling off an upset against Asia’s highest-ranked side.
“Congratulations to the Japanese team, they showed high spirit and high performance at a world-class level,” Thailand head coach Kiattipong Radchatagriengkai said.
“We learned a lot from them, especially in defence and attack.”
Thailand capitalised on a series of errors by their Asian counterparts to win the first two sets 25-18, 25-23. In the past four meetings between the two countries, Thailand had failed to win a single set.