3-Cushion
SEOUL - The Korean professional league PBA has launched the spectacular final to the second season, the Final Tour tournament in which all the top favorites in the men's and women's final are at the start. The final field in the Korean capital consists of 32 men, placed according to the individual tournaments this season and 16 women. Among those 32 men are, Filippos Kasidokostas, who won his first match against Korean Han 3-0 (1.607 on average), Frédéric Caudron, Hyun-min Seo, Min-gu Kang and Javier Palazón, who are all likely to win the 220.000 euros top prize. Korean lady Mi-rae Lee, winner of the last three tournaments, is the main favorite to win the ladies tournament, in which the first prize is 75.000 euro.
Eddy Leppens started with an important victory in the early hours. He beat the top favorite in his group, Min-gu Kang, 3-2 in an exciting match over five sets. Leppens won the two first sets 15-7 and 15-8, the Korean came back 15-11 and 15-9, therefore a fifth set followed to 11 points. The Belgian had a strong start, with a nice bankshot and a 4-1 lead. Then he ran out to 10-5 in 8 innings and scored his first match ball. Later today, Savas Bulut and Jun-hyuk Im will meet in this grou.
On the opening day, the two Spaniards Javier Palazón and David Zapata play against each other at 14.00 West European time, Frédéric Caudron also is showing up in that session against Seong-won Min and Glenn Hofman against Seong-youn Jeong. The Turks Savas Bulut and Birol Uymaz come into action at 11.00 West European time against Jun-hyuk Im and Pedro Piedrabuena. The best two players in each of the eight groups of four players qualify for the knockout phase in the men's side, the best two players in the four groups of eight will move on to the final phase in the women's side. The tournament ends on Saturday, March 6 with the finals and can be viewed on the Youtube channels of PBA.
In the men's preliminaries, the four players from a group play against each other to best of 5 in sets of 15 points. If the score is tied at 2-2, the deciding set goes to 11 points. Filippos Kasidokostas, the number one on the ranking, is classified with three Koreans and opened the tournament in the early morning hours (Western Europe) against Dong-woo Han.
Eddy Leppens was the first of the Europeans to enter the arena. The Belgian faced a renowned opponent, the Korean Min-gu Kang, who in two seasons played four individual finals and lost all four against Filippos Kasidokostas (twice), Frédéric Caudron and Javier Palazón. Frédéric Caudron, also classified with three Koreans, is a two-time winner of an individual tournament and after Kasidokostas the number two of the current rankings.
Glenn Hofman plays for the Netherlands in this final round. After a strong last tournament, he made it to the best 32 of this tour and plays in his group against the American Pedro Piedrabuena, the Turk Birol Uymaz and the Korean Seong-youn Yeong.
The groups in the men's event for the 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.
De LPBA ladies final with 16, in the groups to 3 set wins (11-11-9), in the last 8 to 5 set wins and in the final to 7 set wins.
The group format:
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.
Top favorites for the Final Tour in the men's and the ladies finals
Eddy Leppens on his way to his first victory in the finals