SEOUL - The first round at the PBA Team League goes to the end today, Tuesday, with Direct, the team of Eddy Leppens, Dong Koong Kang and Orie Hida as the winners. The league is over five rounds in total, the winners earning a ticket to the playoffs. The play-offs champion, HanaPay with Murat Naci Coklu, finished as runner-up in the first round.
Also in its fourth year, the team league is again a collection of top Korean, Vietnamese, Japanese and, most of all, many European players. Dong Koong Kang heads the Direct team with Eddy Leppens, the team had never won a round in the team league and was beaten in the final by Hanapay last season. Filippos Kasidokostas and Robinson Morales are making their come-back this season, Burak Hashas is one of the new players.
Semih Sayginer and Filippos Kasidokostas (pictured) play together in Phoenix's team, in which Hyun-min Seo is the leading player. The two European legends finished fifth in the first round. Burak Hashas debuts in the Winners' team with Choong Bok Lee and Lütfi Cenet, which finished 9th in last place.
Direct (Rent-a-car) finished with a total of 19 points. Hanapay (Coklu, Nguyen, Sakai, Ga-young Kim) gathered 15 points, but will play another match against Woori Won Weebies (Zapata, Capak, Pheavy) today. Huons/Legend (Palazón, Morales, Se-yeon Kim) is in third place.
Notable matches in Direct's team in the final rounds included Eddy Leppens' win over Filippos Kasidokostas 15-14, Dong Koong Kang against Semih Sayginer 11-9, Eddy Leppens against Javier Palazón 11-9 and Dong Koong Kang's loss against Robinson Morales 15-6. Direct's leader Dong Koong Kang was also beaten 11-0 by Jae Ho Cho of team Green Force. Kang did win against Juan David Zapata 11-9, Eddy Leppens in that match against Can Capak 15-2.
For Hanapay, Nguyen Quoc Nguyen among others won against Semih Sayginer 15-7, Murat Naci Coklu beat Jae Ho Cho 15-5 and Coklu lost to Robinson Morales 15-3.
The ranking on topwith one day of play:
- Direct 19 punten uit 8
- Hana Card Play 16 uit 7
- Legend 13 uit 8
- Green Force 13 uit 7
- Phoenix 9 uit 7
The winning team with Eddy Leppens, Dong Koong Kang, Dinh Nai Ngo, Orie Hida and Ji-eun Kang
Burak Hashas making his debut in the PBA league
Robinson Morales, strong start for his team Legend