Thailand determined to put Olympic destiny in their own hands

Walking back into the Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium this week brought back strong memories for several members of the Thailand women’s volleyball team.

Not good memories. Memories of four years ago, when they had their dream of a first ever Olympics snuffed out by a controversial final match between hosts Japan and Serbia that turned the dream into a nightmare.

The match ended with Serbia beating Japan 3-2, the only result and scoreline that would guarantee both Japan and Serbia went to London, and Thailand missed out.

The match was later investigated after allegations of match fixing, but there was found to be nothing untoward.

The Thai captain at the time was Wilivan Apinyapong, and she spoke this week of the anger her team felt, mostly for getting themselves into a position where their fate could be decided by others.

“I think about what happened, but I think it is a good thing,” she said.

“We were angry, but only for a short time. Then we knew, if we can win two times or three times more than we did four years ago, then we can go.

“We were angry about ourselves because we did not do our best.”

Missing out on …

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