SEOUL - Two of the former UMB topguns, Dani Sánchez and Semih Sayginer, meet each other in the Korean pro tour PBA today, Thursday at 4 pm West European time. That is a meeting in the second round of this season's second PBA tour. The two Europeans play for 3 sets won, when there is a 2-2 tie, the best run from the start position counts in the the shoot-out. Dani Sánchez is chasing for his first PBA success. The Spaniard is ranked shared 33rd after 1 tournament in the current cycle, Sayginer is shared 65th with the players eliminated in the first tournament in the first round.
The second PBA tournament, sponsored by Hana Card, started this week with the elimination of David Zapata, Filippos Kasidokostas and Robinson Morales in the first round. In the first rounds, the women's tournament was already a knockout gala for many top players. Ga-young Kim, Sruong Pheavy, Se-yeon Kim, Mi-rae Lee, Orie Hida and last year's UMB champion Shin-young Lee were victims in the first two rounds.
Dani Sánchez was one of the better winners in the first round by 2.143 on average against Jong-joo Lee (3-0). Murat Naci Coklu still surpassed Sánchez in average with 2.500 and 3-0 win against Jung-doo Bae. Javier Palazón came out of the first round with a penalty shot (4-0 in the shoot-out). Filippos Kasidokostas was defeated by Nguyen Quoc Nguyen, one of the better Vietnamese, who beat him in the shoot-out. The Greek is experiencing an unfortunate return to the PBA.
Murat Naci Coklu, Lütfi Cenet, Javier Palazón and Dong Koong Kang, the previous winner, qualified for the third round early Thursday. Coklu and Cenet won in the shoot-out.
For the Sayginer-Sánchez game (11 p.m. in Korea, 4 p.m. in Western Europe) follow the PBA's YouTube channel.
Dani Sánchez, chasing for first PBA success