3-Cushion
SEOUL - The Belgian Frédéric Caudron has won his first PBA tournament in Seoul, the TS Shampoo tournament. In the fourth event of this organization, Caudron was superior in his performances against Korean players, including a victory in the final against Min-Gu Kang 4-2. Filippos Kasidokostas from Greece lost in the semi-final to the same Kang: 3-2.
Caudron took the first set in the final 15-6 in 6 innings, the second 15-5 in 5 and ran out to a 3-0 lead by winning the third again 15-5. Korean young star Kang grabbed the fourth set after being down 9-0 and three lucky shots at the end of the set (15-9 in 5). Min-Gu Kang then dominated the 5th set, 15-3 in 3, but was defeated definitively by Caudron in the sixth set, 15-3 in 5. Therefore, the Belgian crowned himself as the winner after three PBA tournaments in which he had not yet been able to to shine. The averages of the finalists: Caudron 2,142, Kang 1,814.
Caudron played 2.111 on average throughout the tournament. The first round, played according to the Survival system with four players, was the most difficult for the Belgian. He finished second in an exciting fight and therefore went to the next round. Filippos Kasidokostas faced Min-gu Kang in the semi-final, which he defeated in the final of the first PBA. The Greek still led 2-1 in sets, but was then overtaken by the young Korean, 11-8 in the decisive fifth set. Frederic Caudron defeated the Korean Keon-hwi Cho in the other semi-final: 3-1.
Among the best-known players, Hyun-Kon Kim, Jin-Pyo Hong, Anh Vu Duong, Jung-Ju Shin (winner of 2nd PBA tournament), Won-Jun Choi (3rd tournament winner), Jae Guen Kim, Allan Schröder, Hyung- Bum Hwang and Pierre Soumagne were already eliminated in the first round.
Pedro Piedrabuena, Eddy Leppens, Savas Bulut, Kostas Papakonstantinou, Javier Palazón and Carlos Anguita lost in the second round.
David Zapata, Robinson Morales, Dong Koong Kang, Glenn Hofman, David Martinez, Hideaki Kobayashi and Roberto Rojas were eliminated in the third round, in one-to-one matches.
Jean-Paul de Bruijn, Birol Uymaz and Adnan Yüksel lost in the round with the last sixteen. The total average of the 128 players in this fourth tournament was around 1,200.
Filippos Kasidokostas has won a total of 87,000 euros in the four tournaments so far, followed by Frédéric Caudron with 81,000 over four tournaments.
For the other Europeans, the total prize money over four tournaments is below expectations:
Javier Palazón 12,000 euros in 4 tournaments
David Martinez 10,000 euros
Birol Uymaz 8,300 euros
Adnan Yüksel 6,000 euros
Savas Bulut 6,000 euros
Jean-Paul Bruijn 3,000 euros
Kostas Papakonstantinou 3,000 euros
Eddy Leppens 2,600 euros
David Zapata 2,600 euros
Carlos Anguita 1,700 euros
Glenn Hofman 1,000 euros
Alan Schröder 1,000 euros
Pierre Soumagne 0 euros.
27-year-old Ji Eun Kang won the women's final against 40-year-old Su-hyung Park. The averages in the final were 0.655 and 0.610. The total average among the 64 ladies was 0.530.