Thailand’s Willivan determined to put Olympic destiny in own hands

Tokyo, Japan, May 16, 2016 – Walking back into the Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium this week brought back strong memories for several members of the Thailand women’s volleyball team, especially former captain Wilivan Apinyapong.

Not good memories. Memories of four years ago, when they had their dream of a first ever Olympics snuffed out by a incredible 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 Thai captain at the time was Willivan, 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 an Olympics by such a small margin …

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