3-Cushion
SEOUL - In the 5th PBA tournament in Seoul, Spaniard David Martinez finished as the glorious winner. The 24-year old player his opponent, Korean Sang Pil Eom, in the final match 4-3 in sets and 1,711 on average. With that victory in the Island hotel in Seoul, Martinez, from Moncada, Valenciana, was rewarded by the 100 million Korean won jackpot, just over 75,000 euros. Martinez was the third European after Filippos Kasidokostas and Frédéric Caudron who triumphed in a PBA tournament organized by the Korean organization. In the third tournament of five, Martinez reached the semi-final, in which he lost to the later winner Choi.
"I played one of my best tournaments ever," commented Martinez afterwards. ''I didn't lose one set before the final and I played all matches between 1,600 and slightly over 2,000 on average. My overall average was around 1,700.'' Only in the World Cup in Antalya at the start of this year Martinez was even better with 1,800, when he won against Jérémy Bury and Roland Forthomme, among others.
''I don't remember what I did after my winning point '', Martinez admitted after his thrilling victory over Sang Pil Eom. ''We both were very nervous, especially in the last set, when it came to the final victory. I first was 1-0 behind, then I won two sets, playing well, 15-4 and 15-1. He came back to 3-3 and then the tension grow to its peak. We both made lots of mistakes, my arm was shaking, but I scored slightly better than my opponent, so I won the last 11-7 in 12.'' Martinez' average in the final: 1,711.
Before the final, Martinez won against Dae Kwon Shin 3-0 (1,667) and in the quarter finals over JH Im (3-0, 1,957). Robinson Morales was his opponent in the best 16, which the Spaniard won comfortably 3-0 and 2,045 on average.
"I can't remember having been so nervous in my career," Martinez admitted. ''We first celebrated the victory in the match room, now before we go to sleep, with my Spanish friends, David Zapata, Javier Palazón and Carlos Anguita in the hotel.'' David Martinez, who lives with his parents in Moncada, played all five PBA tournaments so far. Due to his victory, he is now second in the overall ranking following Filippos Kasidokostas on top.
The other non-Koreans who survived the preliminary rounds with 128 and 64 players in a Survival format were Filippos Kasidokostas (lost 3-2 in the quarterfinals to the later finalist Sang Pil Eom, David Zapata, Robinson Morales, Adnan Yüksel and Savas Bulut.
MiRae Lee won the ladies tournament and won 15 million 12,500 euros. She beat GS Kim in the final 3-2 and played a very strong match in the semi-finals against JE Kang, which she won with 1,294 on average.
The four quarter finalists in the PBA event
David Martinez after his last, winning point in the final
MiRae Lee shows her emotions with the LPBA cup