PUBLISHED : 16 Sep 2023 at 08:43
The Thai women meet Germany in their opening match of the 2024 Olympic qualifying round in Lodz, Poland, on Saturday.
Also in Pool C are hosts Poland, Olympic champions the USA, Italy, Colombia, South Korea and Slovenia.
The top two teams in each of the three pools earn tickets to Paris.
With Olympic hosts France automatically receiving a spot in the 12-team tournament, the remaining five slots will be determined by the world rankings in June 2024.
World No.14 Thailand are brimming with confidence after winning their third Asian title in Nakhon Ratchasima last week.
They stunned China 3-2 in the final after upsetting Japan by the same scoreline in the semi-finals.
But the Thais have a mountain to climb to claim their first ever Olympic berth in the Sept 16-24 tournament.
They face higher-ranked teams in their first four games in Lodz — No.12 Germany, No.2 the USA, No.5 Italy and No.7 Poland.
They then take on No.25 Slovenia, No.36 South Korea and No.20 Colombia.
“We are 100 percent ready,” said Thailand star Thatdao Nuekjang.
Thailand coach Danai Sriwacharamaytakul said his players are familiar with the conditions in Poland as they competed in the world championships in that county last year.
Poland, the United States and Italy are the three favourites to qualify, but some other teams have the potential to be dark horses in the event, reported volleyballworld.com.
Despite having heavily rebuilt their squad, Thailand are on the rise and triumphed at the Asian Women’s Championship recently.
Germany have arguably their most talented generation for quite some time and qualified for the Volleyball Nations League finals for the first time less than three months ago and could also cause an upset.
Germany’s Hannah Orthmann and Thailand’s Chatchu-On Moksri are two outside hitters with game-changing potential.
