GOYANG CITY – The premiums for maximum runs and high scores have shown the great form of Javier Palazón from Spain. In the third PBA Tour in this season, for the first time at the new Kintex PBA Stadium, the Spaniard celebrated his second major success in the PBA tour late Friday night in South Korea. Palazón triumphed in the final against Lütfi Cenet, the Turk making his debut for the Korean professional league this year, 4-3 in sets. Javi Palazón, as he is called among friends, father of two children and, according to the PBA press release, losing 17 kilos in weight after last year, won a final against Min-gu Kang some two years ago with Frédéric Caudron and Savas Bulut on the podium. Now he beat Lütfi Cenet, the PBA debutant, with a flawless final sprint (4-3, 11-1 in the decisive set). The averages: for Palazón 1.867, for Cenet 1.244. The Spanish final win was historic for the PBA: Palazón completed a 'triple crown' as it is called: the final win in the PBA tour, the bounty for the highest run (15) and the prize for the best match average (2.478). The total prize amount was 114 million Korean won, 84,000 euros.
Women's victory for the first time went to Min-ju Baek, who beat multiple winner Se-yeon Kim 4-3 (0.839/0.803).
Javier Palazón is now one of the most successful Europeans in the PBA circuit, in which he is often among the big prize winners along with his two compatriots Juan David Zapata and David Martinez. His second tournament win also puts him high in the rankings for this year so far. The set scores in the match were:
Cenet-Palazón: 3-15, 15-9, 0-15, 7-15, 15-8, 15-11, 1-11.
The standings in prize money after three tours:
- Javier Palazón 107.5 million Korean won
- Semih Sayginer 106 million
- Frédéric Caudron 100 million
- Lütfi Cenet 45.5 million
- Birol Uymaz 39 million
Javier Palazón, cry of intense joy after his winning point
Javier Palazón and the runner-up Lütfi Cenet during the closing ceremony
Javier Palazón, triple winner in PBA event
Lütfi Cenet, great tournament, lost final against Javier Palazón
During his UMB period, Palazón became world junior champion three times and, shortly before his transfer to the PBA, he won the World Cup in Blankenberge in a final against Martin Horn. Javier Palazón plays in the team league for Huons (Legend) with Semih Sayginer, Sung-won Choi and successful lady Se-yeon Kim, among others.
Lütfi Cenet played his way into the final by winning in the semis against Jae-guen Kim 4-3 (13-15, 15-13, 15-2, 10-15, 15-10, 1-15, 11-8). Javier Palazon was superior in his semi-final against Eddy Leppens 4-1 (15-10, 3-15, 15-12, 15-1, 15-8). Belgian Leppens, who played a strong tournament, could not impress in the final with 0.923 average against Palazon 1.537. Lütfi Cenet's wins in the stretch included wins over Semih Sayginer (3-1), Dong-jun Park and Hyun-min Seo. Javi Palazon defeated Yeong-hun Lee, David Martinez and Nam-guk Jang, among others.
29-year-old Min-ju Baek (29) will go down in history as 'the first PBA-LPBA Tour champion at the new Kintex stadium.' The Korean lady was played to a 1-3 set deficit by former PBA world champion Se-yeon Kim, despite a flawless 11-0 start. Min-ju faced one of her great friends and fought back from that 3-1 deficit to a stunning win: 4-3 in sets!
The score sequence in that final: Min-ju Baek won the first set 11-0, Se-yeon Kim ran to 3-1 with 11-1, 11-2 and 11-7, but Baek won the next three sets: 11-7, 11-6 and 9-3 in the decisive seventh set.
Min-ju Baek received the winner's prize of 30 million Korean won (22,000 euros) after one runner-up position in the LPBA last season. Hyun-ji Yong won the Welcome Savings Bank Top Rank (best average 1.389 in Round 64) of 1,500 euros. Famous UMB talent, Myung-woo Cho, stayed in the stands until well past midnight to congratulate his girlfriend for being celebrated.
Min-ku Baek shouting after her first victory in LPBA
The winner and the runner-up in the ladies: Min-ju Baek (right) and Se-yeon Kim
Hyun-yi, girlfriend of UMB start Myung Woo Cho, won the high run price