3-Cushion
GYEONGJU-SI - The first PBA event in the new season, named after its sponsor BlueOne Resort, has approached the sessions with the best two players in the ladies and the best eight in the men. Among the best sixteen in the men's tournament were two Spaniards (David Zapata and David Martinez), one Belgian (Eddy Leppens) and one Turk (Birol Uymaz) from the European players. Glenn Hofman, Javier Palazón, Savas Bulut and Adnan Yüksel were among the players eliminated in the previous rounds.
Belgian Eddy Leppens, the only one for his country in this event, because Frédéric Caudron had to cancel for medical reasons, and the Spaniard David Martinez were the first players who qualified for the quarter-finals, where they will meet each other. Vietnamese top gun Minh Cam Ma, one of the best players in the previous rounds, has also joined the best eight. David Zapata, who won the final PBA event at the end of last season, plays Sang-dae Lee in the last sixteen, Birol Uymaz plays Dong-Koong Kang.
Dutchman Glenn Hofman and Spaniard Javier Palazón lost their matches in the last 32. Hofman went down against former UMB top player Jae-ho Cho 3-1, after coming back from a 2-0 deficit with a set win, but eventually lost with an excellent average: 1,931 for Cho, 1,536 for Hofman. Javier Palazón lost without a chance against unknown Korean Nam-guk Jang. Eddy Leppens was the better in that round against one of the strong Koreans, Byeong-ho Kim after he made up for a 2-0 deficit and won the deciding set 11-5. The Belgian is one of the favorites for the final win. In the round with the last 64 he played a wonderful match against Baing-youn Cho with 2,700 on average and in the best sixteen he won his match against Nam-guk Jang 3-1, 1,931 on average.
The two young Spaniards Zapata and Martinez also show again their high class in this tournament. Martinez won in the round with the best 16 against Kyong-min Kim 3-2 and 1,524 on average, Zapata has one more match to go in that round against Sang-dae Lee. The Spanish players are undoubtedly favorites for the final win with other contenders like Koreans Jae-ho Cho, Dong-Koong Kang, Min-gu Kang, Eddy Leppens and Vietnamese Minh Cam Ma.
In the ladies, the semi-finals were between Sruong Pheavy, who came over from the UMB and was the number two in the world, and three Korean top players: Se-yeon Kim, the winner of the PBA final tournament, Ga-young Kim, the runner-up in that event and Min-a Kim. Sruong Pheavy qualified first for the final match by defeating PBA champion Se-yeon Kim 2-0 (11-7 in 12, 11-5 in 14 innings). Ga-young Kim is her opponent in the final after a 2-1 victory over Min-a Kim: 7-11, 11-3 and 9-3.
Cambodian star Sruong Pheavy defeated Hye-me Choi 2-1 in the previous round with the best eight, Se-yeon Kim won against Ayako Sakai (2-1), Min-a Kim defeated Ji-eun Kang and Ga-young Kim beat Hang-gil Kim. In the round of the last 16, a top encounter was witnessed. Ga-young Kim won the match against the most famous PBA player Mi-rae Lee 2-1.
The first matches in the men's quarter-finals:
Eddy Leppens-David Martinez
Hyun-min Seo-Minh Cam Ma
Last four matches in the quarter-finals:
Zapata-Sang-dae Lee
Jae-ho Cho-Yeong-hun Lee
Dong-Koong Kang-Birol Uymaz
Min-gu Kang-Jong-won Kim.
Women's semi-finals:
Sruong-Pheavy-Se-yeon Kim 2-0
Ga-young Kim-Min-a Kim 2-1
Final: Sruong Pheavy-Ga-young Kim.
The Cambodian star Sruong Pheavy qualified for the final in the ladies
The LPBA champion Se-yeon Kim was beaten in the semi finals by Sruong Pheavy
Dutch player Glenn Hofman survived in two rounds and was beaten in the last 32 by Jae-ho Cho