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Stephy Zhang

Thailand’s victory over China in the final of the Asian Women’s Volleyball Championship earned them their first-ever Olympics spot, underscoring both the former’s tactical ascension and deepening concerns over the latter’s future.
The hosts led 2-1 in Tianjin, before Thailand rallied to win 3-2 and complete a clean sweep of Asian powerhouses, with victories over South Korea and Japan coming in the lead up to Sunday’s triumph.
Qualification for the 2028 Games in Los Angeles comes 47 years after the start of the women’s programme, and after three previous near misses.
At the heart of the rise, has been a highly coordinated tactical system, implemented by head coach Kiattipong Radchatagriengkai, who returned to lead the team in 2024.
Despite an average height of 1.75 metres, compared to China’s 1.88 metres, Thailand compensated with tactical flexibility, recording a 65 per cent dig rate, eight service aces, and five attackers scoring in double digits.

“We are very happy, it’s a miracle for us. This is our dream,” an emotional Kiattipong said afterwards. “For myself as a coach, I waited for 30 years and we qualified for the Olympics. And some of our players waited for this time for so long.”
Kiattipong, who is married to former China team captain and Olympic gold medallist Feng Kun, also praised China, calling them “our teachers” who helped build Thai volleyball over decades.
“In the next two years, China will 100 per cent qualify for the Olympic Games, I believe and I trust,” he added. “They still have more chances through the world rankings.”
China will now need to rely on progressing through the World Championships or World Volleyball Nations League, and Hui Ruoqi, another former national team captain, noted the side’s struggles against a “more compact, flexible, Asian style”.
“Our net dominance was not displayed,” Hui said, while noting that Thailand had some highly experienced veterans at key positions.
Hui also highlighted critical difficulties at China’s setter position, citing both technical and physical challenges.
She pointed out that although China had cruised through earlier rounds with 3-0 victories, several Chinese players suffered muscle cramps during the gruelling final, exposing the team’s struggle under sustained high intensity and long rallies.
“This serves as a wake-up call for future matches – future training needs to be stepped up to a higher intensity,” Hui said, expressing hope that the national team would review the loss and grow faster in the future.
Gong Xiangyu, the current China captain, pointed to psychological shortcomings during critical moments.
“Today in this match, we indeed did not perform as well as the Thailand team in terms of handling pressure, and in terms of mindset when playing crucial points, we were not as firm and decisive as the Thailand team,” Gong said. “We need to focus more on on-court adaptability and demonstrate the desire to win through our play.”
The defeat drew severe criticism from prominent Chinese sports commentator Yang Yi, who said it was the “weakest China women’s volleyball team in history” and called the loss to shorter opponents a “man-made disaster”.
Yang said that while Chinese teams no longer feared defeat, the women’s volleyball side held a unique cultural status, making such a performance difficult to accept.
“After losing the Asian Championship, this current state of the Chinese women’s volleyball team really must come to an end,” Yang added. “Change is imperative.”


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Sport

China

Thailand beat China 3-2 to win Asian Women’s Volleyball Championship, earning a spot at a Games for the first time


Thailand beat China 3-2 to win Asian Women’s Volleyball Championship, earning a spot at a Games for the first time.


Volleyball

Wang Yi

Historic Olympic Games qualification caps Thailand’s volleyball rise, China’s fall

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Thailand beat China 3-2 to win Asian Women’s Volleyball Championship, earning a spot at a Games for the first time

Thailand beat China 3-2 to win Asian Women’s Volleyball Championship, earning a spot at a Games for the first time