The Thai girls conceded only 18 points to their unfancied rivals to open their Doha Games campaign with a 25-7 25-7 25-4 victory. It was a dominant performance from an experienced Thailand, in what was a one-sided affair.

Hard-hitting Wilavan Apinyapong topped the individual scoring with 11 points, including six spikes from nine attempts. She also produced four serve aces.

The Tajikistan team - seven of whose players are just 17 years old - failed to deal with their opponents' serves, allowing a barrage of aces to land in their court.

After this comfortable win, Thailand will be expecting a tougher contest against Mongolia today, while Tajikistan will have more time to get their tactics right for their next game, which is also against the Mongolians on December 4.

After what amounted to a training match, Thailand's Pleumjit Thinkaow said she was looking ahead into the tournament.

"We want to beat Japan and Korea," she said. "We've beaten Korea before in the World Grand Prix, while four or five years ago, we also beat Japan in the Asian Championship. At that time, Thailand was third in Asia and

Japan fourth in the Asian rankings," she said.

Tajikistan's captain, Nigina Khorkasheva, said of her young team, "We were a bit nervous playing our first match in the Asian Games. This is the first time we're competing in the Asiad and everyone was so excited about playing all the teams. There are three or four senior players in my squad, while the rest are still young. Maybe in four or five years, they will mature and be able to put up a much better fight."

Thailand take on Mongolia at 10am this morning (2pm Bangkok time) before going up against Kazakhstan on December 4, the same day the Thai men's squad open their campaign in Doha against Bahrain.

Organisers get thumbs-up

nMeanwhile, after visiting the main press centre yesterday, Santiparb Tejavanichaya, consultant to the Olympic Council of Asia, gave his backing to Qatar's efforts in hosting the 15th Asian Games.

Santiparb is a former governor of the Sports Authority of Thailand and was instrumental in Thailand's successful bids for the 13th Asian Games in 1998, last year's Asian Indoor Games and next year's Universiade.

Commenting on the organisation behind the Doha games, Santiparb said: "I think Qatar has already proved that it is a country that can make a major sporting event a huge success.

"The host nation is excellently prepared. Competition venues meet Olympic standards, while sporting equipment and facilities are also well provided. Qatar has demonstrated quite clearly it has the ability to stage a world-class event."

Preechachan Wiriyanupappong

The Nation

Doha