Thailand got off to a winning start in the defence of their Asian women's title by beating Taiwan in straight sets in Tianjin, China yesterday.
Thailand, black, defend against Taiwan. Asian Volleyball Confederation
In their opening Pool B match, the Thais beat the Taiwanese 25-18, 25-18, 25-19.
Coached by Kiattipong Radchatakriengkrai, Thailand won the title two years ago in Nakhon Ratchasima.
Today, Thailand will take on Hong Kong who yesterday defeated Sri Lanka 25-21, 25-23, 25-22.
In yesterday's other matches, Japan's second-string side lost 3-2 to Vietnam in Pool C.
In Pool D, Australia edged the Philippines 25-18, 25-18, 26-24, 25-15.
There are 14 teams in the tournament which runs until May 28.
Thailand, who have won the title twice, have set a top-four target to earn a place at the Olympic qualifying tournament to be held in Japan in May next year.
Meanwhile, Thailand finished seventh in the inaugural Asian Men's U23 Volleyball Championship in Myanmar yesterday after beating India 20-25, 23-25, 25-22, 25-19, 16-14.
In Bangkok, Chaksuwan Tocharoen, secretary-general of the Volleyball Association of Thailand, said the VAT will send their strongest teams to the SEA Games to be held in Singapore next month.
He said he was confident that both the men's and women's teams would retain their titles at the biennial event.
The Thai women's team has won the SEA Games gold medal nine times in a row.
Earlier, the VAT planned to send a second-string women's team to the SEA Games but its bosses have made a U-turn for fear that it may fail to deliver.
In Hanoi, Vietnamese athletes are given extra incentive to go for gold at the June 5-16 SEA Games with officials promising cash prizes, air tickets, motorcycles and television sets to winners.
Vietnam hosted a send-off ceremony yesterday for the 396 athletes that will take part in the tournament, announcing a gold medal winner would take home 45 million Vietnamese dong (US$2,066).