SEOUL – The champion that Dani Sánchez was with his many titles is back from being away. The 51-year-old Spanish billiards giant triumphed this week in a PBA event, his second victory on the Korean professional tour in two years. He defeated Vietnamese Minh Cam Ma 4-2 in the final (15-6, 15-4, 7-15, 15-14, 14-15, 15-4). With the victory (100 million Korean won, 65,000 euros), Sánchez climbed from 7th to 1st in the season rankings. The Spanish "living legend," who won the UMB world title four times, 15 World Cups, and countless Spanish championships, had a difficult start in the PBA and performed particularly poorly two years ago (2023/24). "That was the worst year of my career, really terrible", Sánchez told a Korean newspaper Wednesday after his victory. "I finished 67th in the annual earnings rankings. I hadn't performed that poorly since I was 16."
In the lead-up to the final, the Spaniard defeated Sang-yong Lee 4-3 after being 3-2 down, defeated veteran Tae-ha Woo 3-1 in the quarterfinals, and then beat Dong Koong Kang 3-2 in the previous round. In the round of 32, when he was the better of Hong-min Kim 3-2, Sánchez saw other top favorites like David Martinez and Jung-ju Shin disappear from the tournament. Semih Sayginer and Eddy Leppens had already been eliminated before.
The High Resort tournament was played at the Grand Hotel Convention Hall in Gangwon Province. Sánchez achieved his first and only PBA victory to date a year and two months ago.
"I'm happy with this victory," Sánchez said in the interview with Pil-joo Kang, a Korean reporter in the PBA. "Finally, after two runner-up finishes this year, I was able to win again. Compared to my first season, I feel like I've improved immensely. I never expected winning in the PBA to be so difficult. There are so many good players. I'm happy that I've been able to adapt well in these two-plus years and have now won on such a big stage.’’
Sánchez now concludes: "I'm still not completely used to it, but I'm getting closer. I still have more to adapt to. I'm well accustomed to life in Korea, but still not quite good enough at the PBA system. When I played in the UMB, I rarely hit a bankshot. In the PBA, those shots are crucial to the system. My bankshot average this season is 18 percent, probably one of the lowest in the entire PBA. Anyway, I'm still young in my learning process; I think I can improve."
