China proved too strong for Thailand as the world's top-ranked team won their second round match of the FIVB women's world championship in straight sets on Sunday.
The game at the Osaka Municipal Central Gymnasium was a rematch of the Asian Games gold medal match last month, also won 3-0 by the Chinese.
Onuma Sittirak was Thailand's top scorer with 14 points, Wilavan Apinyapong added 13 and Malika Kanthong and Thatdao Nuekjang both had 11 as the Kingdom's spikers went down 26-28, 20-25, 23-25.
Captain Zhu Ting led the China offence with 20 points, including 19 spikes, and Gong Xiangyu was superb in scoring 18, with 17 spikes.
"The match was very tough because China is a tall team and very speedy. We tried to keep a high block but China is fast and we could not deal with that, especially the China No.2 Zhu. I tried to hit a strong serve but China received really well," said captain Pleumjit Thinkaow.
"Before the game of course we knew it was going to be very tough so we prepared as best as we could. I am always happy to play against China because they have great skills, speed, power and height. We learn a lot every time we play them," added coach Danai Sriwacharamaytakul.
With the injured Pimpichaya Kokram and Ajcharaporn Kongyot watching from the stands, the Thais relied on their old guard of Onuma, Wilavan and Malika to produce a steady supply of points, supported by the middle blockers Thatdao and Pleumjit.
In a great atmosphere, with large groups of flag-waving supporters, China also showed their quality through Yuan Xinyue and Zhang Changning while Zhu and Gong proved to be constant threats throughout the entertaining encounter.
In other Pool F matches yesterday, Russia beat Turkey 3-0 (25-15, 25-17, 25-16), United States beat Bulgaria 3-0 (25-16, 25-17, 25-11) while Italy also defeated Azerbaijan 3-0 (25-12, 25-19, 25-10).
The Thais will play Italy on Monday at 5.20pm.
Pool E consists of Serbia, Netherlands, Japan, Brazil, Germany, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico and Mexico.
All qualified teams carry over their results from the first round. The top three teams in each of the two second round pools will advance to the third round.