SEOUL - The world's and Cambodian 31 year old billiard star Sruong Pheavy has announced her sensational transfer to the PBA competition. The world's number 2 will start her new challenge for the ladies league in the Korean professional association, the LPBA, next week. With the new step in her career, the most famous lady player in Asia and main competitor of Therese Klompenhouwer in the UMB, makes the move to the professional circuit. Sruong Pheavy is the number two in UMB rankings behind Therese Klompenhouwer. With the transfer to the PBA, Pheavy will be suspended from the UMB circuit according to the rules in the world federation. The news is received in the billiards world as a sensational transfer.
The Cambodian, who moved to Korea at a young age after marrying a Korean, has a billiard centre in Seoul. She is a figurehead for Asian billiards and does a lot of charity work for school children in her homeland, Cambodia.
Pheavy chooses for the big money and meets competitors like Mi-rae Lee, the winner of three LPBA tournaments and a big money maker in women's billiards.
The Korean professional organisation recently announced that the winner of the final tournament coming up will earn 220.000 euros in the men's and 75.000 euros in the women's circuit. Sruong Pheavy certainly will make her new start in the upcoming LPBA tournament, which is played from 10-14 of February.
Therese Klompenhouwer's first comment: ''We all just like to play billiards and as she lives in Korea and plays a lot of billiards there, I can understand her transfer very well. She can earn good money with the LPBA. She is definitely able to win tournaments there with her qualities.''
The PBA organization launced the news today:
''Cambodia's billiard heroine, Sruong Pheavy, has decided to be a professional for a new challenge! First appearance of Pheavy is at the Welcome Savings Bank Championship, the 5th LPBA tour in 2020-2021 Season. Cambodian billiard star will join the LPBA professional billiard tour. After marrying her Korean husband in 2010 and entering billiards for the first time in 2011, she began to win the national club competition in Korea in 2014, won several national competitions and registered as a member of the Korea Federation in 2017. She finished at the 3rd place in the 2018 World Women's 3-Cushion Championships and became the world's best player by winning the 2019 Asian 3-Cushion Women's Championship.''
Sruong Pheavy, who received a commendation for family policy merit from the Minister of Gender Equality and Family in 2020, also emerged as a billiard heroine in Cambodia, introducing billiards to her home country Cambodia. Sruong Pheavy, who is receiving a lot of love and attention from Korea and Cambodia, said that she decided to enter the professional billiard, LPBA tour in February 2021.
Sruong Pheavy: ''After much consideration, I decided to enter LPBA for a new challenge. I will do my best to show you better performances on this new stage. I sincerely thank my fans for always supporting me." The competition among players for the LPBA ladies is expected to intensify when Sruong Pheavy joins LPBA, which is gaining popularity with the best players such as Mi-rae Lee, Ga-young Kim, Jung-sook Lim, Bo-mi Kim and Min-ah Kim.
The last tournament at the PBA-LPBA 2020-2021 season, where Sruong Pheavy will play for the first time, is the Welcome Savings Bank PBA-LPBA Championship 2021. The event will be held at the Mayfield Hotel from February 10th to 14th, the Lunar New Year holiday. The final ranking, which includes the results of this tournament, will secure the seed of the next season, and the World Championship (32 men and 16 women). The so called king and queen of the season, will be decided after this tournemant.
If Sruong Pheavy is ranked 16th in the LPBA money list with good results in the 5th round of her first appearance, she will be able to participate in the World Championship. As the advancement of the first LPBA World Championship is at stake, it is expected to be an important competition for Sruong Pheavy beyond her first LPBA event.
