GOYANG/GYEONGGI-DO - The Korean organizations PBA (men's) and LPBA (women's) will kick off the third event of this season in two days. This third tour, the Hana Card championship, will be played without Frédéric Caudron, who left the organization after his victory in the last event. The main question will be: who will take the throne: one of the Korean contenders, or one of the players from Europe or Vietnam. The 'Hana Card Championship' kicks off on Thursday, July 20, at the Kintex PBA Stadium in Goyang, Gyeonggi-do. On the first two days, the preliminary rounds for the women's division are played, with the opening ceremony on the 22nd.
On this day, the men's league kicks off with a full-fledged competition starting from the eighth finals. The finals take place on July 27 for women and July 28 for men at 11pm Korean time.
As known for some days, 'Emperor' Caudron will miss this tournament. During the second tour of the season, the 'Silk Road & Ansan Championship', Caudron was the first to achieve a total of 8 wins. He won 4 consecutive tournaments in the 2021-2022 season and was seen as the big contender for the 3rd tour. Caudron withdrew from the circuit as negotiations on the terms of the PBA tour and participation contract for the team competition broke down.
It could be an opportunity for strong players, including Birol Uymaz (Turkey, Welcome Savings Bank), runner-up in the 2nd tour, and Jae-ho Cho (NH Nonghyup Card), who beat Caudron and finished first in the rankings last season. The Spaniards and Turks are also contenders and the new faces, led by Semih Sayginer, Dani Sánchez, Sung-won Choi, Murat Naci Coklu and Choong bok Lee are competing.
Women's prize money has been increased. The total prize money for the women's division is 91.6 million Korean won now, with the winner getting 30 million, 21,000 euros.
A new format has been unveiled for the ladies. Based on the results of the last 10 tournaments, the top 32 players will get a starting spot for the round of 64 and other players must survive the first and second qualifying rounds. The men's round of 128 will be announced today, Tuesday.
In the women's preliminary rounds, two contenders play each other right away. Young Korean talent Jang Ga-yeon meets Ji-eun Han, ranked No 1 in Korea.
Jong-ryul Lim/CBS