Thailand eased past Iran 3-0 (25-14, 25-15, 25-13) on Wednesday in their opening match of the FIVB Volleyball Women's World Championship Japan 2018 Asia qualifiers in Nakhon Pathom.
It was the result the team had hoped for and Thailand, with three points, are now on top of the Pool B standings with a better points ratio than second-placed South Korea, who defeated North Korea 3-0 (25-17, 25-23, 25-19) earlier in the day.
Thailand coach Danai Sriwacharamaytakul fielded a relatively young team yesterday, with veteran captain Pleumjit Thinkaow playing the anchor role.
Hattaya Bamrungsuk, Pimpichaya Kokram, Pornpun Guerdpard, Ajcharaporn Kongyot, Chatchu-on Moksri and Piyanut Pannoy completed the starting line-up for Thailand.
Thailand needed only 72 minutes to win in front of a sold-out crowd at Nakhon Pathom Sports Centre Gymnasium.
"It was a great result today. We wanted to win 3-0 and we did just that," said Pleumjit. "We played well, no pressure at all. And the fans were absolutely magnificent."
Former captain Wilavan Apinyapong added: "We had to adjust a bit with the new ball, other than that everything went well. As Pleumjit said, the fans played a key role today. They were very vocal and that put Iran under a lot of pressure."
Ajcharaporn said the players were very focused on qualifying for next year's world championship.
"This is a very important competition. The world championship is the second biggest tournament after the Olympic Games. So if we can qualify for next year's tournament in Japan, it will mean that we can make that extra step in the right direction."
About today's match against Vietnam, Pleumjit said: "We've played Vietnam many many times before. I think they see us as sort of a benchmark so they will try to beat us. We must not underestimate them and have to try to gain an upper hand early on."
South Korea superstar Kim Yeon-Koung was well below her best but still the team's most important player contributing 11 attacks and three aces. Kim Su-Ji added 13 points to the winning side. Jong Jin-Sim was the top scorer for North Korea with 16 points.
South Korea won bronze medal at last month's Asian Senior Women's Championship in the Philippines.
North Korea last participated in the AVC-sanctioned tournament at the 2011 Asian Senior Women's Championship in Taiwan, where they finished fourth.
Thailand take on Vietnam today at 6.15pm while Iran play North Korea at 3.30pm. South Korea have a rest day.
In Pool A in Almaty, China overpowered Fiji 3-0 (25-5, 25-10, 25-14) while Taiwan beat Australia 3-0 (25-23, 25-13, 25-8).
Hosts Kazakhstan play their first match today against China.
The teams compete in a round-robin format with the winners and runners-up from each pool advancing to the final 24-nation tournament to be held in Japan from Sept 29-Oct 20 next year.
The US are the defending champions.