SEOUL - The first of seven PBA tournaments, launched in the new season and organized by the Korean professional organization, ended in a Korean climax for both men and ladies. 42-year-old Oh from Seoul won the men's final against 43-year old Seong-youn Jeong, 4-1 in sets. Ye-eun Kim, 22, crowned the women's tournament with a victory. The first tournament was played at the Grand Walkerhill hotel in Seoul. Frédéric Caudron was the best European player with a place in the quarterfinals, in which the Belgian star was eliminated in a thriller by Vietnamese Minh Cam Ma. The top prize for men was $ 83,000, for women $ 16,500. The winning finalist had the best final sprint after 1-1 in sets with the following scores in sets: 15-5 in 5, 15-2 in 4 and finally 15-12 in 9.
Seong-youn Jeong, who played his first PBA tournament, surprised the billiard fans with a wonderful series from the start. The bachelor from the capital, who is not a professional, but is playing billiards every day, was only beaten in the final by Seong-uk Oh, another not so well-known Korean who lives with his girlfriend and who played all PBA tournaments until now.
Both finalists came from an impressive circuit. Jeong reached the final by a 3-1 win over Minh Cam Ma (1,806/1,581), Seong-uk Oh defeated HS Jung 3-2 (1,719/1,097) in the semi-finals. The Vietnamese was the top favourite, after he showed a fantastic win over Frédéric Caudron in the quarter finals. The Asian took the first set in 2 innings with the maximum final run of 15 and the last set with 11-8.
The Ma-Caudron set modes: 15-2 (2), 0-15 (3), 9-15 (6), 15-2 (4), 11-8 (8), averages Ma 2,273, Caudron 1,909. The Belgian was the last of the Europeans in the tournament. The number one in the first PBA cycle, Spaniard David Martinez, was eliminated in the second Survival round with 64 players with 1,267 on average.
The two Belgians Caudron and Leppens excelled until their elimination with very strong matches and averages. Caudron played 2,500 in the eighth final, 2,565 in the sixteenth final against Savas Bulut from Turkey (Bulut 1,364) and in the second Survival 2,591. Eddy Leppens started with 2,211, in his second appearance 2.353, then 2.500, but he was eliminated almost without any chance in the last sixteen, 3-0 by the later finalist Oh, who played 2,674 against Leppens 1,250.
David Martinez survived the first qualification with 1.136, like the other Spaniards Zapata (1,800) and Anguita (1,095). Javier Palazón and the Turk Birol Uymaz were eliminated immediately in that opening session with 1,200 for the Spaniard and 0,952 for the Turk. The previous winner of the 7th PBA tournament, Byoung-ho Kim, was eliminated in the last 64 in the second Survival round.
In the first knock-out with 32, Caudron, Leppens, Zapata, Piedrabuena and Vietnamese Ma continued with victories, one round later, Leppens lost to Oh, Piedrabuena to Ma and Zapata to Jung. Caudron was the only one of the Europeans who survived the sixteen against Dong-ku Kang, not to be confused with one of the previous tournament winners Dong-Koong Kang: (3-1, 2.500 / 2,105.
The ladies tournament was played with 92 players, 91 were Korean participants. The only non-Korean, Spanish, Najarri, was eliminated in the first round with 0,296 on average. Favourites for the finals, such as Bo-mi Kim and Mi-ra Lee, were eliminated in the early rounds. Ye-eun Kim, a 22-year-old student from Asan, south of Seoul, who spends much of her time in training sessions, played in the final against 37-year-old Ga-young Kim (two times world champion in ladie's pool) and was plagued by nerves in that match. In the semi-finals against Ga-young Kim, the later winner reached 1,429, in the final only 1,054 against the loser 0,694.
The comment from Ye-eun Kim, who played all PBA events in the first season and only reached the semi-finals once: ''I am very excited, because I still can't believe that I won. It seems like a burden that has fallen from me. This victory is so unexpected that I have not yet thought about what I will do with the 20 million won first prize. I think I'm going to put it in my savings account.''
PBA winner Oh in his comment after the final match
The two final players in the men's final match
The ladie's winner Ye-eun Kim with her trophy
Vietnamese Ma and Belgian Frédéric Caudron played a real thriller in the quarters: Ma won 3-2