GOYANG – The Green Force team with Jae-ho Cho as its frontrunner is leading the way after four of six days in the PBA team league (2nd round), by three points over Laon (Jae Guen Kim/Martinez) and six points over team Bazzar (Dani Sánchez/Jieun Han). The new PBA team Bazzar, added as number 9, even shortly led for a while, but lost the top match against Green Force 4-3, despite Dani Sánchez's 15-13 victory over Jae-ho Cho. Green Force eventually grabbed the win in that match because Antonio Montes won the decisive match against Deuk-hee Hwang 11-3. The Spaniard, who has found his niche in the PBA, was thus the key player for his team the same as Bo-mi Kim, who won the match against Jieun Han 9-7 in the women's game.
Green Force leads the battle for the top spot in this second of a total of five rounds with Laon, Bazzar, Direct and Legend. Legend won its last match against Angels, the title holder, 4-4 with wins for Semih Sayginer against Juan Zapata 15-9 and Javier Palazón playing Can Capak 11-3.
The team league faced many European players in the final day sessions. For instance, Lütfi Cenet won against Birol Uymaz 15-7 in Winners' match against Phoenix (4-3). Sayginer (Legend) lost the match to Murat Naci Coklu (HanaPay) 11-8.
Eddy Leppens was successful for his Direct team, including in the match against Laon, which Direct won 4-1, causing Laon to briefly lose the lead. In that match, Eddy Leppens beat David Martinez 11-6. The Belgian did lose to Lütfi Cenet 15-13 in the Direct-Winners match (4-1).
Dani Sánchez, not yet successful in the individual events, is picking up some rhythm with his team from Bazzar. The team won against Angels, among others, with Sánchez winning a doubles match against Juan Zapata 11-9, but individually Zapata was just a little better than Sánchez 15-13. Also notable was young Korean Jieun Han's 9-4 win against Sruong Pheavy of Cambodia. Sruong Pheavy, though very strong in the individual tournaments, also lost her match to Bo-mi Kim 9-2 for Angels.
The provisional standings with two days left to play (wins, losses, average, points):
- Green Force 11-3-1,415-31
- Laon 9-5-1,291-28
- Bazzar 7-8-1,220-25
- Direct 7-8-1,211-24
- Legend 9-5-1,202-21
- Angels 7-9-1,122-19
- Winners 6-9-1,245-18
- HanaPau 5-9-1,224-17
- Phoenix 5-10-1,117-15
Young Bazzar player Jieun Han, who won her match against Sruong Pheavy
Dani Sánchez, searching for rhythm in the team league