SEOUL - The first PBA tournament in the new season, named after its sponsor Woori Financial Capital, got off to a great start on the first few days with matches in which top players were under pressure. Burak Hashas, the big Turkish talent making his debut in the PBA, won his first match and faced PBA topper David Zapata in the second round. The Spaniard took a 2-0 lead, Hashas came back to 2-2 and won in his great start the penalty shots 1-0. He will face Seok-hyun Yoon in the round with the top 32.
Most notably, former UMB champions such as Dani Sánchez, Semih Sayginer and Filipos Kasidokostas were eliminated in the first rounds. The women's tournament featured a special match. Former UMB champion Orie Hida faced Olivia Lee, daughter of the well known Sang Chun Lee. The Japanese won 25-13 in pre-qualification, but Hida was eliminated in the next round. Winners among the top 64 in the men draw were Murat Naci Coklu, Eddy Lepprens, Lütfi Cenet and Dong Koong Kang.
Burak Hashas had a somewhat minor start against Zapata, but then showed his great qualities. The score was 15-5 for Zapata in the first two sets and seemed to be a walk-over. The Turkish youngster dominated the next two sets with two times 15-8, the 18-year-old rookie won the shoot-out 1-0.
Young-won Kim, by the way, is still two years younger than Hashas. The 16-year-old Korean made his debut in the PBA in the middle of last year. He defeated in the first round Vietnamese Duc Anh Chien Nguyen, who was runner-up three years ago at the World championship in Denmark where Blomdahl captured the title.
Dani Sánchez survived his first round in the new season, in which he aims to revenge for his mediocre start at the PBA. However, the Spaniard was without a chance in the second round against Korean Sang-dae Lee, losing 3-0 and 1.250 on average. Semih Sayginer also had no chance in his first appearance against Moo-sun Kim, who defeated Sayginer 3-0, the Turk had 1.115 average. Filipos Kasidokostas, returned to the PBA this year, played a good average, but lost 3-1 to Joo-sun Park (1.773 average). Another player who returned to the PBA, Robinson Morales, was also eliminated: he lost to Sang-pil Eom after penalties (1.783 average).
Meanwhile, among the European players, Eddy Leppens qualified for the round with the best 32 after two wins. Among others, the Belgian defeated Can Capak 3-1 and 1.793 average.
In the ladies, Sruong Pheavy is in the round with the best 16, where Se-yeon Kim, Min-jo Baek and Ayako Sakai are other contenders for the podium spots. Shin Young Lee was one of the stars in the first rounds with 1.941 average. Ayako Sakai won over a well-known Korean, Ji-eun Han, 3-0.
David Zapata lost his match against Burak Hashas in a penalty-shot
Olivia Lee is one of the PBA players, she is the daughter of famous Sanch Chun Lee