JIJU ISLAND - The super gala in the PBA and LPBA, Korea's pro tour, heads to the climax in the coming days. In the field with 32 finalists in the men's and women's event, eight are left to start the quarter-finals today. Belgium's Eddy Leppens is making the most impression so far and definitely wants a shot at the top prizes in this so-called PBA World championship. Women's favorite, Cambodian Sruong Pheavy, has been eliminated by another multiple winner: Ga-young Kim.
Eddy Leppens faced another former Korean UMB player, Hyung Bum Hwang, in the best 16. The Belgian played a super match, which he won 3-0 in sets. Leppens started already in the first set with the perfect run of 15, won 15-1, 15-6 and 15-8 and achieved a record average, 3.750. In the next match today, Leppens will play against Korean Dong Koong Kang.
For the top eight, four international players and four Koreans come to the tables. Two Spaniards, David Martinez and Juan David Zapata, face each other. The two Spaniards eliminated the last two Vietnamese, Nguyen and Cam, in the best 16. Semih Sayginer won against Hyun-min Seo 3-2 and will play against Ki-ho Park today. Jae-ho Cho is the most famos of the Koreans, playing against his compatriot Sang-pil Eom.
In the ladies' side, Sruong Pheavy was defeated by Ga-young Kim, eliminating the Cambodian for the world title at the LPBA. Ga-young Kim won 3-1, averaging 1,000/0,732. Ye-eun Kim beat a former world champion at UMB, Higashiuchi, 3-0. The matches in the women's quarter-finals, two of which have already been played, are:
Mi-rae Lee-Se-yeon Kim (3-0)
Bo-mi Kim-Gap-sun Kim 3-0
Ji-eun Han-Min-a Kim
Ye-eun Kim-Ga-young Kim.
Juan David Zapata will face his countryman David Martinez
Young Korean Ji-eun Han in the last 8 at the ladies