FINAL BETWEEN MALAYSIA AND THAILAND

NAKHON PATHOM (Thailand), Oct 24 — Ranked World No 1 and top seeds here, the Thais punctured all hopes the Malaysians had of creating an upset in front of a disciplined and passionate 3,000 fans with a 22-20, 21-14 victory which lasted for almost 50 minutes at the Nakhon Pathom Municipal Gymnasium.

The last time the Malaysians defeated Thailand was in the second round of Season 3 ISTAF SuperSeries MALASIA in Malacca in February this year.

And today, it was sheer sweet revenge by the Thais.

It was also one of the most dramatic matches ever seen here since the start of the SuperSeries five days ago as a Malaysia-Thailand final always keeps the adrenaline rushing and also draws the most spectacular number of fans here - home to Nakhon Pathom Club, the leading club in the Thailand League.

And it was no surprise that the celebrations grew louder when the host nation players received the ISTAF SuperSeries overall championship trophy from General Charouck Arrivachakaran, the President of the International Sepaktakraw Federation and a Vice-President of the Asian Olympic Council.

Malaysian coach, Abdul Talib Ahmad paraded Syahir Rosdi as tekong, and the diminutive Farhan Adam and Khairol Zaman as feeder and strikers respectively. The duo, whose deadly understanding and combination at the net, has been a bane to all opponents.

On the opposite side of the net, Thailand had their best players thrown on court to take on the Malaysians in Sittipong Khamchan (tekong), Ranhsirod Sirisamutsarn (feeder) and the towering Anuwat Chaichana, who stands at 195cm and of the most potent striker the Thais have ever produced in the sport.

Malaysia broke the duck by taking the first point in the opening set before the Thais rallied to level at 7-7 but the Malaysian crawled to lead 13-9. However, numerous unforced errors coupled with smashes into the net and occasionally going out saw both sides embroiled in a point-for-point chase until 20-20 before the Thais broke away to win two straight points to claim the first set.

The second set saw Thailand dominating with a 4-0 lead but acute smashes down the line from Khairol and Farhan provided the most resilient challenge to the Thais as they drew level at 7-7 but slowly saw their own game fading away as Anuwat forged a good understanding with Rangsirod at the net to give Thailand a comfortable 18-10 lead and then winning 21-14 in 21 minutes.