SEOUL - Semih Sayginer is one of the big names making a bid for the PBA final title. The Korean league concludes its long season with the battle for the PBA and LPBA world title, the men's and women's finals with a jackpot of 140,000 for the men as the final prize. Semih Sayginer beat Korean Jong-won Kim 3-1 in the first round with 32 players and faces Spaniard Antonio Montes, the only Spanish player still in the tournament, in the next round.
Antonio Montes won against Eddy Leppens 3-0 in the first round. Young Japanese Yusuke Mori eliminated top Korean player Subng-won Choi 3-1. Other notable winners were Lütfi Cenet against Javier Palazón (3-2), Nguyen Quoc Nguyen against his compatriot Phuong Linh Nguyen 3-0 and Dong Koong Kang against Young-won Kim 3-2.
The matches with the top eight are today, Saturday:
Lütfi Cenet-Dinh Nai Ngo
Tae-jun Oh-Nguyen Quoc Nguyen
Semih Sayginer-Antonio Montes
Dong-Koong Kang-Yusuke Mori
Ga-young Kim, the winner of all the tournaments this year in the women's, is already in the top eight of the final tournament. So is Sruong Pheavy. Previous champion Se-y Yeon outplayed Ayako Sakai. Orie Hida is out of the tournament after a loss in the last 16. Sruong Phavy is still in the race for win.