3-Cushion
SEOUL - The eight groups for the preliminary rounds in the Final PBA Tour have been announced for the season's end. Filippos Kasidokostas, Frédéric Caudron and Korean Hyun-min Seo, all three winners of a PBA tournament this season, lead the first three groups of four players. The best two players from each group will advance to the top sixteen, where knockout play will take place. The tournament is played from Friday 26 February to Saturday 6 March.
In the preliminary rounds, the four players from a group meet each other to best of 5 in sets of 15 points, if the score is 2-2, the deciding set is to 11 points. The total field consists of 11 non-Koreans, of whom the Belgians, Turks and Spaniards are represented with two players.
Filippos Kasidokostas, the number one ranked, is divided with three Koreans, of whom young Jung-ju Shin (25), winner of the second PBA tournament, is the best known. Frédéric Caudron, also with three Koreans, plays in the group with In-ho Kim, whom he beat in the last tournament in the quarterfinals 3-2.
Hyun-min Seo, winner of the third tournament this season, will face, among others, the former Korean world champion in the Viersen Nations Championship: Jae-guen Kim.
The only South American in the final, Colombian Robinson Morales, recognisable during matches as the only one playing with a cap, faces Dong-Koong Kang, who once was second behind Blomdahl at a World Championship in Bordeaux and won a PBA tournament last season. Two Spaniards, Javier Palazón and David Zapata, play each other in Group E in a group with two Koreans.
The same goes for Eddy Leppens and Savas Bulut in Group F, where Min-gu Kang is the most striking player. Kang played no less than four finals in the PBA circuit over two seasons and lost all four. The last two times in the fourth and fifth tournament this season, in which Javier Palazón and Filippos Kasidokostas were the winners.
Three Koreans meet in Group G, where Seong-youn Yeong is the only Korean. The Turk Birol Uymaz, who was on the podium at a PBA tournament once, American Pedro Piedrabuena, who was third in the very first tournament and Dutchman Glenn Hofman, who was in the best 32 after his good performance in the last tournament, play for two places in the knock-out. In the last group Vietnamese Minh Cam Ma is facing three Koreans.
The group format in the man's PBA Final Tour
Group A: Filippos Kasidokostas - Jung-ju Shin - Ho-suk Jung - Dong-woo Han
Group B: Frédéric Caudron - In-ho Kim - Jun-suk Jung - Seong-won Mun
Group C: Hyun-min Seo - Jae-guen Kim - Sang-pil Eom - Jong-won Kim
Group D: Seong-uk Oh - Bong-chul Kim - Dong-koong Kang - Robinson Morales
Group E: Javier Palazón - Hyun-woo Kim - Jin-pyo Hong - David Zapata
Group F: Min-gu Kang - Savas Bulut - Jun-hyuk Im - Eddy Leppens
Group G: Seong-youn Yeong - Birol Uymaz - Pedro Piedrabuena - Glenn Hofman
Group H: Sam-il Seo - Minh Cam Ma - Ki-hyok Kim - Tae-jun Oh.
The LPBA ladies are with 16, starting in four groups of 4 players to 3 sets won (11, 11, 9 points), followed in the last 8 with 5 sets won (11 points) and in the final to 7 sets won (11 points).
The group composition:
Group A: Mi-rae Lee - Ji-hyun Park - Min-joo Baek - Han-sol Seo
Group B: Ye-eun Kim - Suah Park - Ji-youn Oh - Eun-bin Kim
Group C: Se-yeon Kim - Su-jung oh - Ae-sin Jun - Jung-mi Kim
Group D: Ga-young Kim - Jung-suk Lim - Kyung-ja Kim - Yu-joo Lee.
Robinson Morales, the Colombian in the finals
Javier Palazón, one of two Spaniards in the Final Tour