Hanoi, Vietnam, September 13, 2009 -- Devastating Thailand brought the curtain down on the 15th Asian Senior Women's Volleyball Championship with a bang after overpowering 11-time champions and FIVB World No.3 China in dramatic four sets on Sunday.

Thailand, world No.17 and third place both at the previous edition and the last year's Asian Cup on home soil, dazzled China and a large crowd of their boisterous supporters in the Quan Ngua Competition Hall with gutsy display and a strong will to win.

The magnificent come-from-behind 20-25 25-19 25-19 25-23 victory over the well-established Chinese team, which last month claimed the fifth place at the World Grand Prix Final Round in Tokyo, ended Thailand's gold-medal drought in the biennial competition.

Thailand have never beaten China before. This year, Thailand lost to the formidable rivals twice consisting of the straight-set loss in the World Championship third round Pool D in Chengdu, China in July and again at the last month's World Grand Prix preliminaries Pool E in Macau.

Since the tournament's inception in 1975 in Melbourne, Thailand made their debut attempt in the 4th edition in Shanghai in 1987. There, they finished fifth. Since then, their performances were just ups and downs. Their best two efforts were in 2001 and 2007 on home soil when they finished third place at both occasions.

The scintillating win over the bronze medalists at the last year's Beijing Olympic Games has earned Thailand another berth to play in a world-class competition after they stormed their ways into the semi-finals of the Asian meet which guaranteed them a ticket for the next year's World Grand Prix.

Now, Thailand will represent Asia as the continental champions to test their mettle in the Japan-hosted World Grand Champions Cup in coming November.

"It's beyond everyone's expectation. I have never thought before that we can come this far. To win a semi-final berth in the Asian Championship was already a dream come true for us. Now, we have another sweet dream – to win the Asian crown for the first time ever, a happy Thai head coach Kiattipong Radchatagriengkai said.

In the third-place play-off earlier, defending and three-time champions Japan powered past Korea four times in a row just in 35 days. World No.7 Japan beat the same opponents twice in the World Grand Prix preliminaries and twice in the recently-concluded Asian Championship including the third-place play-off which they won with ease 25-16 25-15 25-18 on Sunday.

Match results

13th-14 play-off: Indonesia beat Sri Lanka 3-1 (25-17 22-25 25-17 25-18)

7th-8th play-off: Vietnam beat Iran 3-0 (25-16 25-16 25-22)

5th-6th play-off: Kazakhstan beat Chinese Taipei 3-0 (25-23 25-21 25-15)

Bronze medal match: Japan beat Korea 3-0 (25-16 25-15 25-18)

Gold medal match: Thailand beat China 2-1 (20-25 25-19 25-19 25-19 25-23)

Final standings

1. Thailand

2. China

3. Japan

4. Korea

5. Kazakhstan

6. Chinese Taipei

7. Vietnam

8. Iran

9. Australia

10. Hong Kong

11. India

12. Uzbekistan

13. Indonesia

14. Sri Lanka

Individual awards

Most Valuable Player: Onuma Sittirak (Thailand)

Best Scorer: Kim Yeon Koung (Korea)

Best Spiker: Xue Ming (China)

Best Setter: Nootsara Tomkom (Thailand)

Best Blocker: Xue Ming (China)

Best Server: Saori Kimura (Japan)

Best Libero Player: Wanna Buakaew (Thailand)