Coklu and Zapata teams battle for final spot in PBA

SEOUL - The two teams headed by Murat Naci Coklu and Juan David Zapata are playing for a place in the final of the PBA/LPBA team championship this evening (Korean time). The score is 2-2 in the duel between Hana Pay (Coklu/Nguyen/GY Kim/Sakai and Woori Weebies (Zapata/Pheavy/Capak) after four games in the semi-finals. At stake is a place in the final against Direct (Leppens/Hida/DK Kang), which team was the winner of the regular competition.

The semi-final between Hana Pay and Woorie Weebies is about the best of 5, so after the 2-2 tie, the winner of the last match is winner. The ultimate final with Direct and the winner of the semi-final, which starts on Tuesday, will go over best of 7 for the final score.

Hana Pay and Woori Won Weebies meet in a draw these days. Woori Weebies won the first two games 4-2, then Hana Pay won first 4-2 and in the fourth set 4-1.

In the first encounter, Murat Naci Coklu won his match with Sang-pil Eom 11-9 and Min-gu Kang against Jung-ju Shin 15-6, among others. Zapata and Kang won the double facing Coklu and BH Kim 11-10. That was good for a 1-0 lead for Woorie Weebies.

The margin was extended to 2-0 in the second encounter, in which Nguyen Quoc Nguyen won against Sang-pil Eom 11-6 and Sruong Pheavy beat Ga-young Kim by the smallest margin: 9-8. Coklu and Shin won the doubles against Zapata and Kang 11-9.

After that first day, Hana Pay successfully put on the chase. First the score came to 2-1 after a 4-2 win. Juan David Zapata did win against Nguyen Quoc Nguyen 15-11, but Shin was the better of Eom 11-3 and Ga-young Kim took revenge against Pheavy 9-5.

The equalizer came after a 4-1 win by Hana Pay, in which Coklu/Shin won the double vs Zapata/Kang 11-5 and Coklu with Ayako Sakai won the dubbel vs Capak and MY Kim 9-5. The final set went to Shin, who beat Zapata 11-2.

The fifth match is at 21:30 Korean time and can be seen live on PBA's YouTube.

Korean star player Ga-young Kim in her match against Sruong Pheavy

Murat Naci Coklu and Juan David Zapata shake hands before their match