GOYANG - The fifth and final round in the PBA league with 9 teams concluded on Sunday night with a win for HanaPay's team, making them the fifth team to qualify for the playoffs. The final round at the Kintex PBA stadium is from Thursday 18 to Sunday 28 th. January. The five teams for the playoffs are Green Force, Laon, Direct, HanaPay and Bazzar.
HanaPlay's victory in the fifth round was the result of its last victory over Winners' team 4-3. Murat Naci Coklu and Ayako Sakai won the double against Choong Bok Lee and Hyun-ji Young. The Turkish clash between Lütfi Cenet and Coklu was won by Cenet 15-10. For HanaPay, the win was a wonderful success. The team which also includes young Korean Jung-ju Shin, Nguyen Quoc Nguyen and Korea's strong lady Gayoung Kim, will start in the play-offs against SY Bazzar, the team of Dani Sánchez and Jieun Han.
The Phoenix team, which has lost Frédéric Caudron, is the most successful formation in the team league, but the team missed the playoffs despite a win over Angels in the last round. As a result, Angels, which is on the same points as HanaPay in the league table, missed the playoffs. Angels' leader Juan David Zapata therefore flew back to Spain today.
In the final round of the regular tour, Green Force, leader in the overall rankings, won 4-2 over Laon, the number two in the standings. David Martinez beat Jae Ho Cho 15-9, in the ladies' side Min-a Kim won against Min-jo Baek 9-8 and Minh Cam Ma against Jae-guen Kim 11-7. Phoenix was the better of Angels 4-3 despite a big win by Juan David Zapata over Birol Uymaz (15-1) and by Sruong Pheavy over Ye-eun Kim 9-3. Can Capak lost in the deciding match to Sang-dae Lee 11-0.
Direct's team won the last game against Bazzar 4-3. Dani Sánchez (Bazzar) beat Eddy Leppens 15-7, Dinh Nai Ngo (Direct) was the better of Yeong-hun Lee 11-3. Leppens/Kang beat Sánchez/Park 11-8 in the double.
The standings over five rounds (40 games) in the team league:
- Green Force (Jae Ho Cho) 87 points
- Laon (David Martinez) 81
- Direct (DK Kang, Leppens) 60
- HanaPay (Coklu, Ga-young Kim) 57
- Angels (David Zapata) 57
- Phoenix (Birol Uymaz) 56
- Bazzar (Dani Sánchez, Jieun Han) 56
- Winners (Lütfi Cenet, Mi-rae Lee) 44
- Legend (Palazón, Sayginer) 42.
The HanaPay winners in the 5th and last round
Korea's strong lady Ga-young Kim celebrates the win for her team
The Phoenix team despite a win in the last round is missing the play-offs