Thailand fell in straight sets (23-25, 17-25, 18-25) to China in their third match of the second week at the FIVB Volleyball Women's Nations League 2024 competition in Macau on Saturday.
Pimpichaya Kokram led the Thai scorers with 15 points against the 6th-ranked Chinese side, followed by Chatchu-on Moksri with 7.
The loss drops Thailand to 13th place in the world rankings from 12th, which they reached after opening their second week with successive wins over the Dominican Republic and France in Pool 3 competition.
Those victories were the first of the current VNL campaign, after the side dropped their first four matches in the first week.
The Thai women have little time to regroup, as they will face second-ranked Brazil on Sunday afternoon in their final match of the week. They will then move on to the third week of pool competition starting on June 12 with a match against world No.1 Turkey.
Thailand is still involved in the race to qualify for the Olympics in Paris, and will need better results from the remaining VNL tournament contests to keep their dream alive.
Currently the team has 211.41 ranking points but they need to close the gap on 10th-ranked Netherlands, who have 286.86 points and are the last team inside the Paris qualification zone.
The five remaining Olympic places will be decided using the FIVB rankings as of June 2024, prioritising countries from continents that do not yet have qualified teams in the Olympic tournament.
Thailand is, however, guaranteed a place in the top eight of the VNL tournament as the host of the 2024 Finals from June 20-23 in Bangkok.