GOYANG - 32-year-old Korean Keon-hwi Cho is the winner of this season's penultimate PBA tour. He was the better of his 27-year-old compatriot Sung-kyun Yim 4-3 in the final after a real thriller, which was decided in Cho's favor in the 7th set 11-9. The champion was trailing 9-2 in that decisive set and finished with a final run of 9. The two finalists are among the new, still relatively unknown Korean player field that gives the PBA tour a new face. The second last tour before the finals with 32 got an almost all-Korean finish. Only Spaniard Javier Palazón, leader of the PBA standings, made it from the intenational players to the top 16, along with 15 Koreans. In the round of 8 finalists, the Spaniard lost to Ki-ho Park 3-2 (11-2 in the deciding set). The 48-year-old Ki-ho Park was the sensation of the tournament. Not only did he beat Javier Palazón, in the round of 32 Park also whirled past Semih Sayginer.
That match against the Turkish prince was a demonstration of Ki-ho Park's high class. The Korean, newly married, who is quitting his job in a factory after this tournament to become a professional player, dominated Sayginer in a match that lasted only 49 minutes: 3-0, 3.750 on average. For that, he was later rewarded as best match winner. Ki-ho Park defeated Sayginer 15-10, 15-4 and 15-3 with three final runs: 10, 10 and 9.
Keon-hwi Cho eventually won the tournament with scores of 15-5, 6-15, 5-15, 15-7, 6-15, 15-7 and 11-9 against Sung-kyun Yim, counted among the new talents. The final lasted nearly three hours and ended in great suspense. The winner got the bonus of 73,000 euros, the prize for perfect run went to Hyeok-min Kwon, the best game to Ki-ho Park, who was eliminated in the semi-finals.
Keon-hwi Cho advanced to the final by winning against Ki-ho Park in the semi-final 4-2. Sung-kyun became finalist by a win over Byeong-ho Kim 4-2. The losin players in the quarter-finals were Min-gu Kang, Hyung-bum Hwang, Hyuk-min Kwon and Javier Palazón.
The best non-Koreans who made it to the last 32 were Adnan Yüksel, Semih Sayginer, Hideaki Kobayashi, Duc Anh Chien Nguyen, Birol Uymaz and Yusuke Mori. In the second round with the best 64, Dani Sánchez, Jae-ho Cho, Nguyen Quoc Nguyen, Minh Cam Ma, Lütfi Cenet, David Martinez, Eddy Leppens, Can Capak and Antonio Montes were eliminated. In the first round with 128, Juan David Zapata and Murat Naci Coklu, one of the standouts in the last team league, werd beaten.
The winner Keon-hwi Cho kissed by his wife
Keon-hwi Cho raising his cue after his final carom
The new champ in the arena during the ceremony
Young Sung-kyun Yim played an excellent tour, but lost the final in a thrilling match
The sensational Ki-ho Park, who outplayed Semih Sayginer and Javier Palazón