Macao, China, June 8, 2012 - Thailand and China both scored opening victory in the 2012 FIVB Volleyball World Grand Prix in Macao, China.

A dominating performance by Thailand opened proceedings in the Macao Forum with a straight-sets win over Argentina (25-18, 25-9, 25-22).  Thailand started quickly with a strong service game which hampered the Argentinians’ ability to mount a consistent attack. Argentina found themselves trailing early in the first two sets, forcing coach Horacio Bastit to take early time-outs in order to settle his team.

Thailand meanwhile were able to mount a fast-paced and consistent attack throughout the match. Thailand’s setter Nootsara Tomkom did a masterful job of distributing the ball and kept the Argentinians off-balance for most of the match. Malika Kanthong provided much of the attacking impetus with 19 kills for Thailand while Tomkon added three points on serve.

Argentina found their form in the third set and gave Thailand a more difficult time, forcing their opponents to take a timeout of their own at 19-15. Unfortunately it was not enough to force a fourth set as Thailand used a powerful outside attack to pull away and secure victory. Lucia Frescoand and Paula Nizetich led the attack for Argentina with seven and six kills respectively while Florencia Busquets led her team with two blocks.

In the second match, buoyed by a noisy and appreciative home crowd, China opened their World Grand Prix campaign with a three-set victory over Puerto Rico (25-15, 25-19, 25-16) despite the absence of ace spiker Wang Yimei.

The match started with the Chinese dominating play at the net and controlling Puerto Rico’s attack with some strong blocking. Puerto Rico were unable to mount a consistent attack and thus lost the first set.

Puerto Rico came out more determined in set two and managed to take the lead at the first technical timeout (8-7). It was short-lived though, as the Chinese rallied with the help of excellent defence to jump ahead 18-11. Puerto Rico fought back to come within two points of the Chinese, but that was as close as they would get as the Chinese closed out the set with the help of more strong blocking.

Set three started with the teams trading points, but strong serving by the Chinese saw them take the lead (8-5) at the first technical timeout. The Chinese continued to pull away as the Puerto Rico block was ineffective against the Chinese attack. Hui Ruoqi and Ma Yunwen led the way for China with ten kills and five blocks respectively. Sarai Alvarez led Puerto Rico with an impressive 12 kills.

Tomorrow’s matches see China take on Argentina while Thailand will battle Puerto Rico.