SEOUL - The Spanish clash in the PBA league between Dani Sánchez and Juan David Zapata ended in a victory for the younger of the two top Spanish players. David Zapata took a 2-0 lead, Dani Sánchez fought his way back to 2-2, but in the penalty series to decide the winner, Zapata scored 3 times and Sánchez only once. The match was played in the round of 64 players for the High 1 Resort tournament.
Juan David Zapata steps into the next round with 32 players, Dani Sánchez, playing an excellent match, was unable again to qualify for the final stage of a major tournament in the Korean pro league. The match between the two Spanish leaders was followed by many in the stands of the PBA arena, where Semih Sayginer, Sánchez's teammate Jieun Han, Zapata’s girl friend, Eddy Leppens and David Martinez, among others, were fanatic followers. David Zapata was the best starter with 15-13 and 15-12, Sánchez battled back with 15-1 and 15-12, but despite a higher average in the match, Sánchez failed to take the shoot-out to his name. The final score was: 55 points for Sánchez, 43 for Zapata, both made a run of nine and scored 12 times with loose ties. But Zapata was the winner 3-1 in the shoot-out and continues despite Sánchez's better average: 2,115 against 1,654.
For the round with the best 32, Javier Palazón, Nguyen Quoc Nguyen, Murat Naci Coklu, Eddy Leppens, David Martinez and Antonio Montes have already qualified. Coklu meets Leppens in that round. Players eliminated in the previous round include Semih Sayginer (losing against Hyun min Seo 3-1), Birol Uymaz, Can Capak and Minh Cam Ma.
The women's tournament is up to the round with the best 16. There, Jieun Han won 2-1 against Ga-young Kim, Ayako Sakai won 2-0 vs Min-jung Song, Se yeon Kim won 2-1 vs Ji-hyun Park and Sruong Pheavy won 2-1 vs Gap-sun Kim. Japan's Orie Hida was eliminated by Bo-ra Kim.
Dani Sánchez, a loss despite his excellent match