Thailand missed out on a chance to reach the final of the AVC Cup for Women 2022 in the Philippines yesterday.
They narrowly lost to five-time champions China 3-2 (19-25, 25-20, 25-14, 23-25, 15-10) in the semi-finals at Pasig City's PhilSports Arena.
The Chinese have now won four of the last six meetings between the two teams.
In today's title decider, fourth-ranked China, who have reached the final in all of the previous tournaments, will face the winners of the second semi-final match between Japan and Vietnam which was scheduled to be played later last night.
Error-ridden show
World No.14 Thailand will play the losers of the second semi-final in a battle for third place today at 3pm. The final match is scheduled to begin at 6pm.
"We did our best today against China. We will look into our mistakes today and hope we can meet our next goal to win third place tomorrow," said captain and setter Pornpun Gerdpard.
Middle blocker Hattaya Bamrungsuk added, "We made too many errors today. Tomorrow in the third-place match we will do our best. I hope the fans will give us support again."
In the classification round yesterday, Taiwan beat Iran 3-0 (25-23, 25-18, 25-17) while hosts Philippines beat Australia 3-2 (21-25, 25-19, 19-25, 25-18, 15-12).
Philippines will face Taiwan in a fight for fifth place while Australia and Iran will vie for seventh spot today.