GOYANG - The 32 players who play the LPBA World Championship (PBA tour) are known after Korean Min-a Kim won the last event. She defeated Cambodian Sruong Pheavy 4-1 in sets, stopping the victory tour of the No 1 in the women's rankings. The CrownHatai tournament concluded in the last 8 with six Korean ladies, Cambodian Pheavy and Japan's Ayako Sakai. Min-a Kim enters the final tour with the most merits ahead of Sruong Pheavy, Ayako Sakai, Ga-young Kim and Min-joo Baek.
Well-known Japanese ladies from the former UMB circuit, Orie Hida and Namiko Hayashi, fall outside the top 32 and were unable to qualify for the LPBA World championship. Shin-young Lee, the last UMB world champion, who transferred to the LPBA immediately after winning the title, only survived two rounds in the last tournament and was now eliminated in the top 16 by Han-sol Seo, who also outplayed Ayako Sakai in this event one round later. Orie Hida had to leave the tournament after losing against Ga-young Kim, the multiple winner in the LPBA cycle.
Sruong Pheavy came out of the round with the top eight by winning against Hyun-ji Yong (3-2), Ji-eun Kang beat Jung-suk Lim 3-1, Min-a Kim won against Min-young Kim 3-2 and Han-sol Seo beat Ayako Sakai.
In the semi-finals, Sruong Pheavy, the winner of the previous tournament, won Ji-eun Kang 3-0 and Min-a Kim beat Han-sol Seo 3-1.
Min-a Kim then claimed her 3rd PBA win by winning 4-1 over Sruong Pheavy with a record average for a final match: 1.444. Pheavy fell short of 0.857. The set results were 8-11, 11-10, 11-0, 11-2 and 11-7. The final match lasted only 97 minutes. Kim won a final against Pheavy before and also beat Ga-young Kim for tournament win.
With this win, Min-a Kim leads this season's earnings rankings with 63 million Korean won (47,000 euros).
The LPBA Tour regular season is over after this 9th Tour. The LPBA's World Cup will be played from March 8. The final men's tournament starts today and concludes on Sunday, March 3.
Min-a Kim kissing the trophy after her last win
Sruong Pheavy, beaten by Min-a Kim in the final match