SEOUL - The Korean professional league PBA has attracted another major champion from the UMB. Four-time world champion Dani Sánchez (49, from Barcelona) is leaving the official world federation and plays in the PBA league from next season. The Spaniard signed a three-year contract and will not play in the upcoming World Cup tournament in Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam (22-28 May). The PBA and women's LPBA have also recruited other well-known players, like the only former Korean World Champion Sung Won Choi.
Dani Sánchez is the second famous champion after Frédéric Caudron who played on the PBA Tour from the first year. The Spaniard took his world titles in Reze (1998), Lugo (2005), Sluiskil (2010) and Bordeaux (2016). Sung-Won Choi became world champion in 2014 in Seoul.
In the PBA, mainly a lot of Asian players have contracts, six Spaniards, two Belgians (Caudron and Leppens), some Turks and Greeks including Filippos Kasidokostas. The women's league with players like Orie Hida (Japan), Sruong Pheavy (Cambodia) and Ga-young Kim (Korea) is now stronger than UMB competitions in which Therese Klompenhouwer is for years the undisputed champion.
The PBA top assures that more players will join the Korean stronghold in the upcoming days. Choong Bok Lee (Korea) has almost given his word like Maxime Panaia (France), other players from the world's top 16 rankings seem to be close to an agreement with PBA. It is also known already that Korean women's champion Jieun Han is leaving for the LPBA and another Korean, Yeon Jang, has already signed.
Mr Heejin Lee, the founder and manager of PBA/LPBA business, says negotiations will be completed by 9am West European time on Thursday morning. He responded to our questions in an interview who will be published soon on Kozoom.