Tatiana Kosheleva gave troubles to the Thailand side
Verona, Italy, September 23, 2014 – Dominating Russia beat a spirited Thailand in three sets (25-18, 25-19, 25-22) in the first World Championship match they played against each other at the FIVB Women’s World Championship at PalaOlimpia on Tuesday.
Key points:
•This was the first time Russia and Thailand played against each other at the World Championship•Russia have now won 23 of their last 24 World Championship matches dating back to their bronze medal match in 2002
The match started with Russia putting points on the board, followed by a quick reaction of Thailand, enthusiastically supported by their fans with flags and vocal encouragement.
After the first technical time out, Thailand came back scoring a point on a service, but Russia quickly secured the lead. Thailand tried to close the gap and managed to score an ace, but Russia kept their dominance to 15-11.
Regardless their fans’ cheering, Thailand were not able to reach the Russians, and Tatiana Kosheleva took the first set scoring to 25-18.
Russia started the second set with an ace, but Thailand managed to take the lead 9-10. The Asian supporters became even more enthusiastic and kept chanting throughout the set.
Russia managed to regain the lead before the second technical time out and at 16-14 Thailand’s coach Kiattipong Radchatagriengkai called for a break. The match restarted with an ace by Ekaterina Gamova. Russia dominated the rest of the set, and after a last point scored by Thailand, Nataliya Goncharova sealed the set 25-19.
The third set started more balanced, with Russia only leading by one point at the first technical time out.
As the opponents created distance to 10-7, Thailand focused and tried to narrow the gap, but their efforts did not pay off and Russia saw them by far at the second technical time out at 16-10.
Yana Shcherban blocked spectacularly, but Thailand did not stop fighting and reduced the distance to 24-22 on errors on the Russian side and a block by Kuttika Kaewpin. Kosheleva eventually gave Russia the set 25-22 and the first 3 points of the World Championship.
Thailand will play their second match at the FIVB Volleyball World Championship Italy 2014 against the Netherlands on Wednesday, while Russia will play against Mexico.