Thani Ruengsri and Winai Thonglai, who finished third last year in the World Foot Volley League in Holland, are playing for Thailand A and will face Great Britain, the Netherlands A and Malaysia.

"We are ready to play and are confident that we will beat the other teams, especially the Netherlands, who we defeated last year," Winai told The Nation.

"We will do our best to make it to the final round. However, defending champions Brazil remain the strongest rivals in this tournament," he said.

Prapoot Kamlangake, secretary-general of the Foot Volley Association of Thailand, said that this was the first international foot volley event in Thailand.

"These nations, especially Brazil, have competed throughout the world, but this is their first time in Thailand," he said.

Meanwhile, former Liverpool and England star John Barnes and former Ireland international Niall Quinn spent an hour training at Jomtien Beach in searing heat in front of hundreds of their fans.

After that, the two stars opened a coaching clinic for children.

Barnes and Quinn will play exhibition matches every day during the four-day meet and on Saturday they take on Thai duo Piyapong Pew-on, a former star striker, and Thai TV star "Joker" Noppachai Mattaweewong.

Nine nations are taking part in the tournament - Thailand, Brazil, Holland, France, Great Britain, Spain, Malaysia, Brunei and Singapore.

Alitta Tangrungruengkit

The Nation

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