KOREA – The new PBA tour in South Korea produced a sensational victory in the first round for the Hacker, a masked amateur player. The unknown player defeated top Spanish player Dani Sánchez 3-0 and also won 3-0 against Antonio Montes in the next round. The other well-known European eliminated is Eddy Leppens. Among the women, who already have reached the round with top 8, Sruong Pheavy and Orie Hida were eliminated from the tournament.
The Hacker is returning to the tour this year and immediately shone with a victory over Dani Sánchez. The Spaniard, recently honored for his performance last season, had no chance, the Hacker scored 15-10, 15-6, and 15-13. Besides being an excellent billiards player, the Hacker is the mental coach of Young-won Kim, the sixteen-year-old talent from Korea. Eddy Leppens played strongly in the first round against Gyuk sik Han, but lost 2-1 in the shoot-out. Han played the first perfect set with 15 in one inning. Despite the loss, Leppens recorded 2,389.
Semih Sayginer was one of the winners in the first round against Wan seop Lim, and Burak Hashas defeated well-known Vietnamese player Dinh Nai Ngo 3-0. Zapata, Martinez, Cenet, and Coklu are also still in the tournament.
Ga-young Kim survived the first three rounds again in the women's draw and is among the contenders. The Japanese player Natsumi Higashiuchi is also vying for a podium spot. Another Japanese player, Ayako Sakai, has retired from the PBA and is taking a year off. The players who are already eliminated are Sruong Pheavy, Mi-rae Lee, Se-yeon Kim, and Min-jo Baek. Cambodian Pheavy was defeated by a debutante, Bom-e Choi. The PBA women's tour, the LPBA, presented itself with a few talented players under the age of 20.