SEOUL – Hana Card's team sprint in the PBA team league secured them the overall victory in the first round of the new competition. Hana Card, with Murat Naci Coklu, Byeong-ho Kim, Nguyen Quoc Nguyen Jung-ju Shin and the ladies Ga-young Kim, Ayako Sakai and Jin-ah Kim, triumphed in the last two matches against Huons (4-2) and SK Rent-a-car, the main competitor, with 4-1. Second place went to Rent-a-car, three points behind. Hana Card won the first PBA team league two years ago, while last year Rent-a-car was the champion after the final with the winners of the tournaments.
The battle fort his season seems to be between these two teams again. Hana Card was the best at the finish, while Rent-a-car lost two matches in the final phase against High Resort (4-2) and Hana Card (4-1). In the last match, Rent-a-car beat Crown Hatai 4-2, but it was not enough to threaten Hana Card.
Hana Card won the most important match against Huons 4-2, thanks in part to individual victories by Ga-young Kim and Jung-ju Shin in the last two matches against You-ram Cha (9-7) and Robinson Morales (11-4). Murat Naci Coklu won the final double match with Ayako Sakai 9-7 against Sang-dae Lee and Shin Young Lee, the UMB world champion from two years ago. Ga-young Kim, the multiple winner in the individual tournaments, was also the star of this match. She defeated Shin-young Lee and Se-yeon Kim in the women's doubles with Ayako Sakai.
Hana Card's penultimate match was the top clash against SK Rent-a-car, which ended in a comfortable win for Hana Card: 4-1. Nguyen Quoc Nguyen secured that victory in the final match by defeating Eddy Leppens 11-4. Coklu and Sakai played an important role again with a 9-2 victory over Keon-hwi Cho and Orie Hida. Dong Koong Kang was the only winner at Direct: he defeated Shin 15-7.
The Winners team, in contention for the title until the final rounds, squandered their last chances with a 4-3 loss to Nonghyup. That match was exciting until the very last moment. The decisive match was between Hyun-woo Kim of Nonghyup and Sung-gyun Im of Winners: Kim was the winner with a 11-0 score. Notable results: Minh Cam Ma defeated Burak Hashas 11-4, Lütfi Cenet beat Jae-ho Cho 15-12, and Cenet and Hashas triumphed over Spaniards Montes and Mayor 11-3.
Welcome Savings Bank, the tournament sponsor's team, which had been in the lead for a long time, finished in the top four by winning the last match against SY, Builders 4-3. Jong-won Kim beat Yusuke Mori 11-0, Ji-eun Han beat Ye-eun Kim 9-6, Dani Sánchez beat Hyun-min Seo 11-2 and Semih Sayginer lost to Won-jun Choi 15-7. Welcome Savings Bank lost its chances of winning the title by losing 4-0 to Rent-a-car and 4-3 to Harim.
Murat Naci Coklu with Ga-young Kim during the match
The final ranking after the first round:
- Hana Card 20 punten
- SK rent-a-car 17
- High Resort, Winners 17
- Welcome Savings Bank 16
- Harim Dragons 13
- Crown Hatai, Laon 13
- SY Builders 12
- NH Nonghyup Card 12
- Woorie Won Weebies 11
- Huons, Legend 4