3-Cushion
GYEONGJU-SI - The false start in the PBA Tour that Sruong Pheavy, the 31-year-old Cambodian, made a few months ago has been forgotten and forgiven. The former UMB star could not make a successful start in the Korean pro league in February 2021. She was eliminated in the first Survival round. In the first tournament of the new season, named after the sponsor BlueOne Resort, Sruong Pheavy threw off all shyness this weekend and finished as the glorious winner. She defeated one of the PBA women's champions of the early years, 38-year-old Ga-young Kim in the final 3-1, took the trophy and collected the first top prize of the new year: 14.750 euros. The men's semi-finals will be played tomorrow, Sunday, between Koreans Dong-Koong Kang and Hyun-min Seo (14.30 Korean time) and Spaniards David Martinez and David Zapata (17.00). The winners play the final at 22.00 (Western Europe 15.00).
Sruong Pheavy announced her switch from the UMB to the PBA (for women, the LPBA) on February 9 this year and was later followed by four-time world champion, Japan's Orie Hida. The PBA women's tournament were enriched by a huge boost: the two UMB players were immediately seen as formidable competitors to PBA star players like Mi-rae Lee, Ga-young Kim, Bo-mi Kim, Jung-suk Lim and the winner of the LPBA final, 24-year-old Se-yeon Kim.
Orie Hida, like Sruong Pheavy in her first PBA tournament, could not yet live up to that fame. She was eliminated in the first round of the tournament. Sruong Pheavy, who was number two on the UMB ranking behind the Dutch Therese Klompenhouwer, did show her high class in this first event of the season. The Cambodian is a billiard hero in her country, who introduced and popularised three cushion billiards and has now moved to South Korea where she runs a billiard center.
Pheavy shone in the semi-finals by beating PBA champion Se-yeon Kim 2-0. Therefore, she qualified for the final against Ga-young Kim, the winner of the other semi-final against Min-a Kim 2-1, who had eliminated top favorite Mi-rae Lee earlier in the tournament. In the final, Pheavy started with a lost set (11-7 in 8 innings), but in the remainder of the match the Cambodian was superior with set victories 11-4 in 3, 11-10 in 10 and 11-9 in 9 innings. Pheavy averaged 1,333 against her opponent 1,172. Both players scored double points in the final with 8 bankshots.
The glorious ladies winner Sruong Pheavy shows the first trophy in the new LPBA season
The losing finalist in the ladies, Ga-young Kim
In the men's event, two young Spaniards, David Zapata and David Martinez, play in the semifinals tomorrow, Sunday, and two Koreans, Hyun-min Seo and Dong-Koong Kang, who will meet in the other semifinal. David Martinez and David Zapata played two thrillers in the quarter-finals. David Martinez faced Eddy Leppens in that match. The two Europeans showed up in a high quality match. Leppens won the first set 15-9 in 5 innings, Martinez won the second and third set 15-5 in 5 and 15-1 in 3 innings, Leppens came back to 2-2 by winning the set 15-13 in 4, but in the decider, the Spaniard won 11-5 in 5 innings. Martinez started in the third set with 10 and in the fourth set with 13. The Spaniard finished with a 3,000 average, the Belgian with 2,050.
David Zapata had to go just as deep in his match against Jae-ho Cho, although the level was a bit lower than in the match between Martinez and Leppens. Cho won the first set 15-2 in 5, Zapata took a 2-1 lead with set wins 15-12 in 8 and 15-9 in 6. Cho fought back with 15-11 in 10 to make 2-2 in sets. In the deciding round Zapata struck with 11-7 in 6.
The two Korean semi-finalists are Hyun-min Seo, who beat Minh Cam Ma 3-1 (averages 1,667/1,562) and Dong-Koong Kang, who beat Jong-won Kim 3-0 (averages 2,143/1,650).
David Martinez was the better of Belgian Eddy Leppens after thrilling match: 3-2
David Zapata, last season's PBA champion, is in the final rounds again after victory over strong Korean Jae-ho Cho