Vietnam women's volleyball team debuts: Facing a very strong opponent

At 8:30 p.m. tonight (August 23), the Vietnamese women's volleyball team will play in the world championship for the first time. And the first opponent of coach Nguyen Tuan Kiet and his team is Poland - the world's third-ranked team with a squad of experienced, high-class athletes.

Will Thanh Thuy be pushed to the opposite position to replace Bich Tuyen? - Photo: AVC

The opponent is beyond reach.

With a ranking of 22, Vietnam is still basically among the top teams in the world . But in reality, the gap in level between them and Poland is quite far.

Firstly, this is the first time the Vietnamese team has participated in the World Championship. As for Poland, this happens too often. Although they have not won the championship, they have finished in the top 4 many times. Up to now, the European representative has won 1 silver medal and 2 bronze medals.

In other prestigious tournaments such as the Olympics or Volleyball Nations League (VNL), Polish women's volleyball has also achieved remarkable results. Poland has always maintained a stable volleyball development. Although it has not had a breakthrough like Italy, Brazil, China or Serbia, Polish women's volleyball has always consistently produced outstanding athletes of the world.

At this Women's Volleyball World Championship, they brought in middle blocker Agnieszka Korneluk - who is 2m tall. Thanks to that, she has a jump range of up to 3.28m and a blocking range of 3.09m. It is not difficult to find videos online about Korneluk's ability to block the ball "as easily as taking something out of a bag". Many times she just needs to stand still... waiting for the ball to reach her hand to block.

In addition to Korneluk, Poland also has a team of very tall athletes such as middle blocker Aleksandra Gryka (1.9m), opposite blocker Magdalena Stysiak (2.03m), main blocker Julita Piasecka (1.89m)... It can be seen that Poland is stronger than Vietnam not only in class and experience but also in superior physique and physical strength.

Thanh Thuy will play opposite set?

That is certainly the question that many fans are interested in, not the results or achievements.

The story of Bich Tuyen withdrawing from the tournament has revealed many gaps in the Vietnamese women's team. In theory, coach Nguyen Tuan Kiet only brought to Thailand one setter, Hoang Thi Kieu Trinh. The starting position will almost certainly belong to the girl from the Signal Corps team.

But Kieu Trinh is not a physically fit athlete. And she also does not possess the devastating smashes like Bich Tuyen. Therefore, the Vietnamese women's volleyball team needs to have a backup plan.

Therefore, it is not impossible that coach Nguyen Tuan Kiet will arrange Thanh Thuy to play in this role. Previously, the captain of the Vietnam team was asked to play opposite sets at the PFU BlueCats Club (Japan). And there have been a number of matches in which Thanh Thuy performed well in her opposite set role.

So she has some experience. Besides, in the world, it is not rare for a main hitter to be sent to play opposite set. But the question is, who will replace Thanh Thuy to play main hitter?

The answer is really difficult, because recently it can be seen that Nguyen Thi Uyen was assigned the main task of catching the first step.

The two remaining hitters, Vi Thi Nhu Quynh and Nguyen Thi Phuong, will probably replace Thanh Thuy. However, although they have played well and explosively at times, they have not been able to reach the same level as Thanh Thuy.

DUC KHUE

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/tuyen-bong-chuyen-nu-viet-nam-ra-quan-doi-mat-doi-thu-cuc-manh-20250823104559655.htm