3-Cushion
GOYANG - 39-year-old Ga-young Kim, a former world champion in pool billiards, has managed to win another PBA women's tournament. In the final, Ga-young defeated 28-year-old Ji-eun Kim, a two-time winner, 4-1 after prevailing in four of five sets. Ga-young Kim achieved 1,000 on average, her opponent 0,577 (5 and 3 best runs).
With the victory, Ga-young Kim earned 20 million Korean Won, 15,000 in Euros. The premium for the best match average was taken by Mi-rae Lee, one of the top players, she recorded 1.900 and was eliminated in an earlier phase.
The penultimate tournament leading up to the final had a surprising start with the elimination of Sruong Pheavy, the leader in the rankings, in the first round. LPBA champion Se-yeon Kim also suffered an early defeat in the last sixteen against Ma-rie Lee.
Ga-young Kim defeated Japanese Ayako Sakai (2-0) in the last eight, who in her last World Championship for the UMB was on the podium with Therese Klompenhouwer, Orie Hida and Sruong Pheavy. In the semi-finals, Ga-young Kim won against Yu-ram Cha, also one of the standouts in this tournament. Ji-eun Kang, the other finalist, defeated Woo-kyung Lee 3-2.
The battle for the top sixteen spots in the women's LPBA final tournament in March is in full swing with one tournament coming up before the final clash, in which the winner can earn 70,000 euros. Sruong Pheavy leads the ranking with 68,300 points ahead of Ji-eun Kang with 44,100, Ga-young Kim with 42,500, Ye-eun Kim with 30,100. The defending champion, Se-yeon Kim, is provisionally 5th with 28,650. The LPBA top players Mi-rae Lee (19th), Yu Ram Cha (26th) and Bo-mi Kim (38th) do need a catch-up race in the final tournament.
The final of the men's tournament is between Frédéric Caudron and Jae-ho Cho: today, Wednesday, 13.30 West European time.
Ga-young Kim, second time winner in 5 final matches for LPBA
