SEOUL - The final in this season's first PBA tournament is between Dong Koong Kang, a routine player, and 16-year-old Young-won Kim, the revelation of the season opener. The victory in the ladies went to Se-yeon Kim, the ex-PBA champion who defeated Kyoung-jin Im in a thriller 4-3. Among the Europeans in the men, David Martinez and Burak Hashas were eliminated in the semifinals. The Korean final will be played later today.
Burak Hashas (18) played a scintillating first tournament for the PBA on his debut, defeating renowned opponents, but lost in the semifinals to 16-year-old Korean Young-won Kim. The score was 4-0 in sets with scores of 15-6, 15-13, 15-13 and 15-14, averages 1.530/1.243.
Dong Koong Kang, a former winner in the PBA tour, was the better player against David Martinez 4-1 in sets (2,094/1,500). The Spaniard got one more set win after trailing 3-0, but went down again in the fifth set: 15-12, 15-11, 15-1, 7-15 and 15-6.
Young Korean Se-yeon Kim won the women's final 4-3 from Kyoung-jim Im, one of the players who have broken through in the last two years. The set scores were 11-10, 11-4, 6-11, 11-5, 9-11, 4-11 and finally in the deciding set 9-0 for Kim in 1 inning (averages 1.151/1000). Se-yeon Kim was the 2021 PBA champion and won two individual tournaments.
Se-yeon Kim was the best again in the ladies event