THAILAND U19 WOMEN BEAT HONG KONG, CHINA BY FIVE MATCHES TO NIL IN WOMEN’S T20 CHALLENGE
April 9, 2026
Thailand Women have arrived in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia as the highest ranked team who are playing in the qualifier event for the next Asian Games which will take place in Japan in September 2026.
The qualifier event for women’s cricket which will be part of the Asian Games for the fourth time is being held at the Bayuemas Oval in Kuala Lumpur as teams from across Asia are competing for the last three places in the eight-team line up.
India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh have pre-qualified for the Asian Games, along with hosts Japan so the remaining three places will be decided in the next few days.
Six teams are taking part in the women’s qualifier in Kuala Lumpur with Thailand, Hong Kong and Malaysia in Group A and Nepal, Indonesia and China in Group B.
Thailand will face group matches against Hong Kong and Malaysia and the top two in each group will qualify for the semi-finals. The winners of the semi-finals will both qualify for the Asian Games as well as reaching the final, while the losers will meet in the third-place play-off which will decide the final qualifying team.
Thailand have already competed this year in the Global Qualifier for the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup which was hosted by Nepal and then Thailand staged the Rising Stars Asia Cup which involved leading Associate Nations along with A teams from the main Asian countries, so this will be another chance for the Thai girls to show they are the best team in Asia at this level before they go on to play in the ACC Women’s Premier Cup which will also be held in Malaysia next month.
Cricket has been part of the Asian Games on three previous occasions and Thailand have taken part in the women’s tournament on all three occasions. The 2010 event was held in China with Pakistan the winners, and Pakistan also won the event hosted by South Korea in 2014. Cricket returned to the Asian Games in 2023 when it was again held in China and India won the gold medal after taking part for the first time.
Thailand will be hopeful of taking part in the Asian Games women’s cricket for the fourth time in September 2026 when the cricket event will be staged as the Karogi Sports Park in Nisshin which is a new ground developed by the Japan Cricket Association.
Thailand Women will have a busy month of cricket with the Women’s Premier Cup also coming up which is an 18-team competition which is also a qualifying tournament for the next Women’s Asia Cup.
Women’s cricket in Asia is a quickly expanding sport and Thailand will be looking to retain their current position as the highest rated Associate team in in Asia.