Wilavan Apinyapong ( th, วิลาวัณย์ อภิญญาพงศ์; RTGS: Wilawan Aphinyaphong, born June 6, 1984) is a Thai professional volleyball player who plays for Azerbaijan Club Igtisadchi Baku in the Azerbaijan Super League and the Thai National Team as an Outside Hitter. She was the captain for the

Thailand women's national volleyball team The women's national volleyball team of Thailand ( th, วอลเลย์บอลหญิงทีมชาติไทย) represents the Thailand in international volleyball competitions. It is managed by the Thailand Volleyball Associatio ...

from 2008 to 2016 when Pleumjit took the captain role. Apinyapong led the Thai team to win the first gold medal at 2009 Asian Women's Volleyball Championship and beaten China 3-1 for the first time in history. She again led the team to victory in the

2013 Asian Women's Volleyball Championship The 2013 Asian Women's Volleyball Championship was the seventeenth edition of the Asian Championship, a biennial international volleyball tournament organised by the Asian Volleyball Confederation (AVC) with Thailand Volleyball Association (TVA) ...

where she also received the MVP award of the event.

Career

Apinyapong signed with the Spanish professional club IBSA Club Voleibol for the 2007–2008 season of the Spanish Superliga, playing with her countrymate

Nootsara Tomkom Nootsara Tomkom ( th, นุศรา ต้อมคำ; ) is a Thai volleyball player. She has been selected to play for the Thailand women's national volleyball team 39 times. Career She participated at the 2006 FIVB World Grand Prix. Tomk ...

. For the next two seasons, she and some of her Thai teammates, such as

Malika Kanthong Malika Kanthong ( th, มลิกา กันทอง, born January 8, 1987) is a member of the Thailand women's national volleyball team. Career Malika won the Best Server individual award of the 2015–16 Azerbaijan Super League season, pl ...

Amporn Hyapha Amporn Hyapha ( th, อำพร หญ้าผา, , ; born 19 May 1985) is a member of the Thailand women's national volleyball team. Career Hyapha played with Bangkok Glass in 2017–18 Thailand League (Second leg) She is on the list 2019 ...

signed with the Turkish club Ereğli Belediye and had a successful club career there. In 2010, she signed with the Chinese club

Guangzhou Evergrande Guangzhou Football Club, formerly known as Guangzhou Evergrande Taobao Football Club, is a professional Chinese football club that participates in the Chinese Super League under the license of the Chinese Football Association. The team is based ...

under coach Jenny Lang Ping. Along with the Olympics MVP Feng Kun, Yang Hao,

Logan Tom Logan Maile Lei Tom (born May 25, 1981) was an American indoor volleyball, beach volleyball player, and is current head coach of the Israel women's national volleyball team. She is a four-time Olympian at the outside hitter position. At age 19, ...

Jovana Brakočević Jovana Brakočević Canzian ( sr-cyrl, Јована Бракочевић Канцијан; born 5 March 1988) is a Serbian volleyball player, who was a member of the Serbia women's national volleyball team that won the silver medal at the 2016 Sum ...

. She was benched most of the time during the season because of the limitation on foreigner players were only two foreign players were allowed on the court. Next season, she moved to another Chinese club team Fujian Xi Meng Bao and played alongside good friend

Pleumjit Thinkaow Pleumjit Thinkaow ( th, ปลื้มจิตร์ ถินขาว; ; born 9 November 1983) is a Thai volleyball player. She was a member of the Thailand women's national volleyball team. Her international debut was at the 21st SEA Games ...

and Chinese Olympics bronze medalist Xu Yunli. The Thai team went on to finish in fourth place at the 2012 World Grand Prix, making it the best result for Thailand since 2002 as the Thai team participated for the first time. After winning the gold medal against China at the 2012 Asian Women's Cup Volleyball Championship, Apinyapong and her 6 other teammates signed for Igtisadchi Baku and helped the team to win the silver medal at the 2012–13 Azerbaijan Women's Volleyball Super League. They also qualified for the 2013/2014

CEV Women's Champions League The Women's CEV Champions League, formerly known as CEV Champions Cup (from 1960 to 2000), is the top official competition for women's volleyball clubs of Europe and takes place every year. It is organized by the Confédération Européenne de V ...

for the very first time since the club was founded. In 2013 she received the MVP award at the

. She extended the contract with Igtisadchi Baku for one more year and was subsequently appointed captain. In late 2013, after winning the gold medal at

2013 Southeast Asian Games The 2013 Southeast Asian Games ( my, ၂၀၁၃ ခုနှစ် အရှေ့တောင် အာရှ အားကစား ပြိုင်ပွဲ), officially known as the 27th Southeast Asian Games, or the 27th SEA Games, and com ...

, Apinyapong said that she will not go to compete at the

2014 FIVB Women's World Championship Fourteen or 14 may refer to: * 14 (number), the natural number following 13 and preceding 15 * one of the years 14 BC, AD 14, 1914, 2014 Music * 14th (band), a British electronic music duo * ''14'' (David Garrett album), 2013 *''14'', an unrele ...

because she is set to join the 2014 Asian Games in Incheon,

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korean Peninsula and sharing a land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed by the Yellow Sea, while its eas ...

, considering that she might have a chance to win at least one medal. In 2015 she played with the local

Bangkok Glass BG Pathum United Football Club ( th, สโมสรฟุตบอลบีจี ปทุม ยูไนเต็ด) is a Thai professional football club based in Pathum Thani province and is managed by BG Sports Company Limited which is a ...

on loan. She also played on loan with

in 2016. She moved to the Vietnamese

VTV Bình Điền Long An VTV Binh Dien Long An is a Vietnamese women's volleyball team from Long An, Vietnam. The club was founded in 1986 and plays in the Vietnam League History The start of the club's women's volleyball team Long An Textile was established in 1986, ...

in 2017, playing on loan. She is on the list 2019 Korea-Thailand all star super match competition. After not qualifying to the

2020 Summer Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the 1 ...

, Wilavan decided to retire after representing Thailand for 20 years, along with Nootsara.

Personal life

Apinyapong married Nattapong Kesapan, at Kham Sakaesaeng,

Nakhon Ratchasima Nakhon Ratchasima ( th, นครราชสีมา, ) is one of the four major cities of Isan, Thailand, known as the "big four of Isan". The city is commonly known as Korat (, ), a shortened form of its name. It is the governmental seat of ...

on 7 May 2017. Apinyapong graduated from

Bangkok University University (BU; th, มหาวิทยาลัยกรุงเทพ; ), commonly known as Mo Krung Thep ( th, มอกรุงเทพ), has operated since 1962, is one of the oldest and largest private, non-profit universities in ...

with a bachelor and a master's degree.

Clubs

* Vinh Long VC (2006–2007) * Sang Som (2007–2008) * IBSA Club Voleibol (2007–2008) * Ereğli Belediye (2008–2010) * Federbrau (2010–2011) *

(2010–2011) * Chang (2011–2012) * Fujian Xi Meng Bao (2011–2012) * Igtisadchi Baku (2012–2014) *

(2013–2015) *

(2015) (loan) * Supreme Chonburi (2015–2021) *

(2016) (loan) * VTV BĐ LA (2017) (loan)

Awards

Individuals

* '' 2011 Asian Club Championship – "Most valuable player"'' * '' 2013 Asian Championship – "Most valuable player"'' * '' 2014–15 Thailand League – "Best scorer"'' * '' 2014–15 Thailand League – "Best outside spiker"'' * '' 2016 Asian Club Championship – "Best outside spiker"'' * '' 2016 VTV Cup Championship – "Best outside spiker"'' * '' 2016–17 Thailand League – "Best outside spiker"'' * '' 2018–19 Thailand League – "Best outside spiker"''

Clubs

* 2006 Thailand League – Simple cup icon

Champion, with

* 2010–11 Chinese League – Gorm silver cup

Runner-up, with

* 2012–13 Azerbaijan Super League – Gorm silver cup

Runner-up, with Igtisadchi Baku * 2013–14 Thailand League – Simple cup icon

Champion, with Nakhon Ratchasima * 2015–16 Thailand League – Gorm silver cup

Runner-up, with Supreme Chonburi * 2016–17 Thailand League – Simple cup icon

Champion, with Supreme Chonburi * 2017–18 Thailand League – Simple cup icon

Champion, with Supreme Chonburi * 2018–19 Thailand League – Gorm silver cup

Runner-up, with Supreme Chonburi * 2017 Thai–Denmark Super League – Simple cup icon

Champion, with Supreme Chonburi * 2018 Thai–Denmark Super League – Simple cup icon

Champion, with Supreme Chonburi * 2019 Thai–Denmark Super League – Simple cup icon

Champion, with Supreme Chonburi * 2009 Asian Club Championship – Simple cup icon

Champion, with Federbrau * 2010 Asian Club Championship – Simple cup icon

Champion, with Federbrau * 2011 Asian Club Championship – Simple cup icon

Champion, with Chang * 2012 Asian Club Championship – Bronze medal, with Chang * 2015 Asian Club Championship – Champion, with

* 2016 Asian Club Championship – Bronze medal, with Bangkok Glass * 2017 Asian Club Championship – Champion, with Supreme Chonburi * 2018 Asian Club Championship – Champion, with Supreme Chonburi * 2019 Asian Club Championship – Runner-up, with Supreme Chonburi

Royal decorations

* 2013 - Commander (Third Class) of The Most Exalted

Order of the White Elephant __NOTOC__ The Most Exalted Order of the White Elephant ( th, เครื่องราชอิสริยาภรณ์อันเป็นที่เชิดชูยิ่งช้างเผือก; ) is an order of Thailand. It wa ...

* 2010 - Companion (Fourth Class) of The Most Admirable

Order of the Direkgunabhorn __NOTOC__ The Most Admirable Order of the Direkgunabhorn ( th, เครื่องราชอิสริยาภรณ์อันเป็นที่สรรเสริญยิ่งดิเรกคุณาภรณ์; ) was establi ...

20 นักตบปลื้มรับเครื่องราชฯทำคุณประโยชน์ด้านกีฬา
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References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Apinyapong, Wilavan Living people

Wilavan Apinyapong Wilavan Apinyapong ( th, วิลาวัณย์ อภิญญาพงศ์; RTGS: Wilawan Aphinyaphong, born June 6, 1984) is a Thai professional volleyball player who plays for Azerbaijan Club Igtisadchi Baku in the Azerbaijan Supe ...

1984 births Asian Games medalists in volleyball Volleyball players at the 2006 Asian Games Volleyball players at the 2010 Asian Games Volleyball players at the 2014 Asian Games Volleyball players at the 2018 Asian Games Igtisadchi Baku volleyball players

Medalists at the 2014 Asian Games Medalists at the 2018 Asian Games