Coach Nguyễn Tuấn Kiệt: 'Vietnamese women's volleyball can only blame itself'

The Vietnamese women's volleyball team had several chances to close out the final at SEA Games 33 but failed to capitalize, missing out on their first-ever gold medal.

The Vietnamese women's volleyball team suffered a heartbreaking 2-3 loss to Thailand in the SEA Games 33 final on the evening of December 15, settling for silver and still unable to claim gold for the first time in their history at the Games.

Notably, in the decisive fifth set, both Vietnam and Thailand pushed each other into an intense extended point battle beyond 20 points, which was ultimately decided bya very sensitive ace serve from Pimpichaya Kokram.

In the final play, Pimpichaya served to the back court, and Hoàng Thị Kiều Trinh chose not to touch the ball, thinking it had gone out. However, the referee raised the flag confirming the ball was in play, leaving Vietnam to accept the result as they had no right to appeal.

Although some opinions suggest that the 50/50 call affected the match outcome, according to Coach Nguyễn Tuấn Kiệt, Vietnamese women's volleyball can only blame itself.

"This play was harsh on the determined effort of the Vietnamese women's volleyball players. That’s how the game is; we must accept that we had the chance to finish the match but couldn’t, so that is our fault first, and the other situation was just an external factor.", he said.

Vietnamese women's volleyball was considered the underdog against Thailand in the final, but our girls fought bravely, pushing their biggest rival to a fifth and final set for the first time in SEA Games encounters. It is unfortunate that Trần Thị Thanh Thúy and her teammates suffered defeat and still have not brought home the first SEA Games gold for Vietnamese women's volleyball.