GOYANG - 28-year-old Korean Ji-eun Kang has won the third PBA tournament in this season in the ladies event. In the final she defeated the famous Cambodian Sruong Pheavy 4-1, averaging 0,980 and 0,875. It was the second victory for this Korean in two years of PBA for women.
With her victory, the Korean earned 20 million Korean Won, about 15,000 euros. The set scores in the final were 11-6, 11-10, 4-11, 11-7 and 11-8.
The tournament in Goyang had an early end for players like Orie Hida, Namiko Hayashi and the Korean PBA toppers Ga-young Kim, Mi-rae Lee, Bora Kim and Se-yeon Kim, the star player in the previous events.
The ladies event was played with 85 players. The organization wants to increase that number to 128 players, so that a full schedule can be played. In the women's league of the PBA, seven players from outside the organizing country perform: except for the Koreans, Japanese Orie Hida, Namiko Hayashi and Natsumi Higashiushi and Sruong Pheavy from Cambodia are the best known.
The men's tournament is ready for the final rounds. Belgian Eddy Leppens qualified for the final for the first time in over two PBA years by winning the semi-final against Jung-ju Shin, a young player who has won a PBA tournament before. Leppens played only once before a semi-final in a tournament that was won by Dong-Koong Kang for David Zapata.
The Spaniard Zapata played for a final spot against Jae-ho Cho, the former World Cup winner with the UMB, who made the switch last year and is in the semi-finals for the first time. Cho won the match with Zapata 4-2, averages 1.569 for Cho, 1.360 for Zapata.
The final match is at 13.30 West European time.
Among the main contenders, Frédéric Caudron was one of the last to drop out of the tournament, losing against Jung-ju Shin (3-1 loss). The Korean lost to Leppens one round later. Adnan Yüksel delivered a remarkable performance, including a win over Birol Uymaz. The Turkish veteran lost in the last eight to David Zapata 3-0. Glenn Hofman made it to the last sixteen, Spaniard Carlos Anguita disappeared earlier from the tournament, but made a maximum run of 15. He did not get the premium, because a Korean player had already made 15.
In the men's tournament of the PBA, 128 players started, 17 of whom are from outside the organising country:
Four Spaniards: Zapata, Martinez, Palazon, Anguita
Three Turks: Bulut, Yüksel, Uymaz
Three Vietnamese: Tran, Nguyen, Ma
Two Belgians: Caudron, Leppens
Two Japanese: Kobayashi and Mori
1 Dutchman: Hofman
1 Greek: Papakonstantinou
Ji-eun Kang, second time LPBA winner in a final match with Sruong Pheavy
Belgian Eddy Leppens plays his first final in a PBA event
Jae-ho Cho was the better of Zapata and plays the final against Leppens