Favourites Vietnam were made to sweat by Japan who pushed them as close as possible in the first semifinal of the morning session.
The Vietnamese women, who already have one gold medal to their name in sepaktakraw, won through 19-21, 21-18 and 15-13 after a lifeless start.
Sensing the match slipping away early, Vietnam coach Ha Tung Lap called for a time-out, finding the right words to spark some life into his lethargic pair who responded by reducing the deficit to two points midway through the first set after a woeful start. But the gap was too big to bridge and the Japanese pairing of Chiharu Oku and Sawa Aoki went one up.
"It was a very hard game for us today - the players were physically tired, it was our mental strength that saw us through,"Â said Ha
"The tiredness will bother us in the final but our mental strength can help us to win."Â
Luu Thi Thanh and Nguyen Hai Thao of Vietnam started the second set stronger, but found it difficult to pull away from the Japanese pair. Oku in particular was having a blinder of a match regularly producing well-executed spikes and blocks as the Japan duo pushed hard to secure an Asian Games final place.
The much-improved Vietnamese had other ideas taking the set 21-18 and forcing the tiebreak.
Vietnam produced their trademark flair and hustle early in the tiebreak to lead their fast-fading opponents for most of the set, before Japan made a final push drawing level at 11-11 after another stunning 'sunback' spike from Oku.
Vietnam though found the blend at the end to reach the final and go in search of only their third gold of the games.
Myanmar beat China in theother match which was settled in a tiebreak. They always had the edge in terms of ability but the Chinese just would not lie down.
Celebrating every point they won with exuberant high-fives Myanmar muscled their way through in a match played in terrific spirit.
They appeared to be in control when they barged their way through the opening set 21-16, but the Chinese halted their progress in the second. However, some super flicks and clever retrievals saw Myanmar win the tiebreak 15-11.
Myanmar, still looking for their first gold at Doha 2006, have their hopes pinned on Thin Kyu Kyu and Phyo May Zin to win their first of the Games.
15th Asian Games. Doha 2006
Posted December 14th, 2006 by COBA
