3-Cushion
SEOUL - The third PBA event in the 2020/21 season, named NH Nonghyup Card Championship, is won by 38-year-old Hyun-min Seo in a final match against his namesake, 51-year-old Sam-il Seo. The two routine players were the best after a thrilling race of matches, in which the non-Korean players were eliminated in the preliminary stage. The tournament was played at the Mayfield Hotel in Gangseo gu, South Korea. The Korean world player Jae-ho Cho, who was the number 14 on the UMB ranks, made his debut for the PBA, as did the Vietnamese number 25 in UMB, Dinh Nai Ngo.
The city of Gangseo-gu watched a very striking final match between the two Koreans of whom Hyun-min is the most famous. The older finalist Sam-il played in four World Cups between 2008 and 2017, but did not make it further than the preliminary rounds. Hyun-min Seo shone at the World Championship in Seoul in 2014 with a bronze medal and fifth place in the LGU+ Cup in 2018 with 2,214 on average.
Hyun-min Seo couldn't be happier after the final match: ''I cried with despair, but now I showed tears of happiness'', he commented. ''When I started my small billiard club in August, I was desperate, because I had to close it soon because of COVID 19.'' The winner was overwhelmed; ''I was used to trainings of 7 to 8 hours, but with the new club, it was much less. I had another motivation, because in previous events I was already happy that I had made it through the Survivals. Now, I was mentally stronger in this tournament.'' When asked what he's gonna do with the prize money won? ''I will certainly use it to invest in my new club, but (laughing) I have to win two more tournaments to pay for my entire club.''
The most talented of the two Seos won the final match with a comfortable score: 4-0: 15-6, 15-12, 15-6 and 11-15. The winner had a poor start in the first two rounds, played in the Survival format (1,125, PBA average), but came up with a high level in the five knockout matches with 1,869 on average. The runner-up reached 1,143, a remarkable average for a number two in a PBA tournament.
The Turk Birol Uymaz finished third with 1,801 on average and was the best non-Korean in the field of 128 starters. The young Korean Jung-ju Shin was the other player on the podium with 1,642 average (all averages according to PBA calculation).
In the pre-rounds, the first Survivals in which two of four players qualified, the best from the non-Korean players were Birol Uymaz (3,750 on average), Frédéric Caudron (3,321), Jean-Paul de Bruijn (2,571), Adnan Yüksel (1,929), Tonny Carlsen (1,588), Ma Minh Cam (1,556), Robinson Morales (1,368), Savas Bulut (1,258), Glenn Hofman (1,238) and Eddy Leppens (1,100). The most famous Koreans to survive these preliminary rounds were Byeong-ho Kim (2,529), Dong-Koong Kang (2,250), Hyun-kon Kim (2,150), Durk-hee Hwang (2,105), Jung-ju Shin (2,000), Nam- soo Kim (1,882), Sang-pil Eom (1,850), Min-gu Kang (1,350), Su Oh (1,824).
The notable losers in these preliminary rounds included Dinh Nai Ngo (1,867), the four Spaniards, David Zapata (1,571), David Martinez (1,529), Javier Palazón (1,294), Carlos Anguita, the French Pierre Soumagne (1,150) and the Greeks Kostas Papakonstantinou (1,000) and Filippos Kasidokostas (1,118). In the second round of the Survivals, Adnan Yüksel and Tonny Carlsen were eliminated.
In the first round of the knockouts with 32 players, Caudron was the best with 2,900 on average facing Savas Bulut. Hyun-min Seo, the later winner, showed his high class with 2,077 and twice a run of 13. Also qualified were Hofman (1,724), Ma (1,568), Uymaz (1,513), De Bruijn (1,417), who won his match against Jae-ho Cho 3-2.
The round on the way to the quarter-finals was marked by Frédéric Caudron's against Ma Minh Cam (3-1, 1,462 for Ma, 1,179 for Caudron). Hyun-min Seo defeated Hofman 3-1, De Bruijn lost to JH Im 3-1, Birol Uymaz defeated Sang-pil Eom 3-0 and was the only European in the last eight.
The quarter-final matches were won by Jung-ju Shin (3-0 against Dong-Koong Kang), Birol Uymaz against Minh Cam Ma 3-1, Hyun-min Seo against BC Kim 3-2 and Sam-il Seo against Im, 3-1.
In the semi-finals, the two Seos were victorious over Jung-ju Shin (3-0) and Birol Uymaz 3-2.
The prize winners (in euros):
1 Hyun-min Seo, 75.342 euros
2 Sam-il Seo, 25.616 euros
3 and 4 Birol Uymaz and Jung-ju Shin, € 7.534
5 to 8: 3.767 euros
9 to 16 with Caudron, Hofman, De Bruijn: 1.880 euros.
The following PBA events are:
January 8-12: 5th edition Team League.
January 14-18: 4th tournament PBA and LPBA.
The winner with his trophy after the final 4-0 win
The runner-up Sam-il Seo
Turkish player Birol Uymaz, the best of the Europeans