Jaeho Cho (NH Nonghyup Card), No. 1 in prize money rankings for men’s billiards season, David Zapata (Spain, Blue One Resort), ‘Billiards Emperor’ Frederic Cudron (Belgium, Welcome Savings Bank), ‘Vietnam Express’ ‘ Mamin Calm (NH Nonghyup Card).
Women’s billiards ‘Season 1st place’ Slong Piabi (Cambodia, Blue One Resort), ‘Billiard Empress’ Kim Ga-young (Hana Card), ‘LPBA total 5 wins’ Lim Jung-suk (Crown Haitai), Japanese duo Hida Orie who lifted the championship trophy (SK Rent-A-Car), Natsumi Higashiuchi.
The ‘World Championship’, which determines the season’s strongest in the professional billiards PBA, will open on the 2nd of next month.
The Professional Billiards Association (PBA, President Kim Young-soo) will hold the “SK Rent-A-Car PBA-LPBA World Championship 2023” at JTBC Studio in Goyang, Gyeonggi-do for 10 days from the 2nd to the 11th of next month.
The PBA World Championship is a tournament that is held after the end of the regular season tour. The prize money is the largest. The winning prize is 200 million won and 70 million won for PBA and LPBA, respectively, for a total prize money of 550 million won. In terms of qualifications, only the top 32 players in the prize money rankings of the season can participate.
Also, unlike the regular tour, which starts with tournaments and survivals, 32 players are divided into 8 groups and start the tournament in the group stage. The 1st and 2nd places in each group advance to the round of 16, where a tournament determines the winner.
The game format is played in a set system for all games, and the PBA round of 32 is a best of 5 (last set 11 points), and the round of 16 and quarterfinals are played in a best of 5 system like the round of 32, but the final set is 15 points. The semi-finals will be a best-of-7 match, and the final will be a best-of-9 match.
The women’s LPBA round of 32 will be played in a best-of-3 format (last set 9 points). After that, the quarterfinals from the round of 16 will be played in a best-of-five system, and the semifinals and finals will be played in a best-of-7 system. From the round of 16, the final set score is changed to 11 points.
Only the top 32 players in the prize money rankings this season will participate in this tournament. In the case of a tie, the rankings were ranked in the order of ranking points, number of tour participations, set gains and losses, season average, and season high run.
As a result, the main winners of the regular tour this season will compete side by side.
Jae-ho Cho (NH Nonghyup Card), who ranked first in the season prize money ranking, was placed in Group A with Javier Palazon (Spain, Huons) Shin Dae-kwon and Choi Won-joon as the No. TS Shampoo·Pura Chicken) Lee Young-hoon and Noh Byung-chan were assigned to Group B.
In addition, Frederick Kudron (Belgium Welcome Savings Bank) is in Group C with Oh Tae-joon, Kim Hyun-woo (NH Nonghyup Card) Kim Jong-won (TS Shampoo, Pura Chicken), and ‘Vietnamese Express’ Mamin Calm (NH Nonghyup Card) is Dinh Nai (Vietnam, Nonghyup Card). SK Rent-A-Car), Philippos Kasidocostas (Greece, Hana Card) and Antonio Montes (Spain) were drawn into the group of death.
In addition, Virol Wimaz (Turkey, Welcome Savings Bank, Group E) David Martinez (Spain, Crown Haitai, Group F) Kang Min-goo (Blue One Resort, Group G) Kang Dong-gung (SK Rent-A-Car, Group H) Oh Seong-wook (Huons, H Joe) participates. 안전놀이터
■ Kim Ye-eun, Baek Min-joo, Hayashi Namiko, Yong Hyeon-ji, Group H ‘Group of Death’ formation In the
women’s division, ‘Season 1st place’ Slong Piabi (Cambodia/Blue One Resort) was drawn in Group A with Lim Gyeong-jin Yoon Gyeong-nam and Jung Eun-young. ‘The Empress’ Kim Ga-young (Hana Card) will play against Kim Se-yeon (Huons) Kim Min-young (Blue One Resort) Oh Ji-yeon in Group B.
Lim Jung-sook (Crown Haetae) was assigned to Group C with Ayako Sakai (Japan) and Myung-hee Kim from Woo-gyeong Lee (SK Rent-a-car), and Hida Orie (Japan, SK Rent-a-car) was assigned to Group D with Jin-ah Kim (Hana Card) and Su-jeong Oh (Welcome Savings Bank) Do-hee Oh.
In addition, Natsumi Higashiuchi (Group E), Minah Kim (NH Nonghyup Card, Group F), Lee Mi-rae (TS Shampoo, Pura Chicken, Group F), Kim Bo-mi (NH Nonghyup Card, Group G), and Kim Ye-eun (Welcome Savings Bank) Baek Min-joo (Crown Haetae), Hayashi Namiko (Japan), and Yong Hyeon-ji (TS Shampoo, Puradak) were placed in the ‘group of death’ in Group H.
The tournament will start the PBA round of 32 group stage from 2:00, right after the opening ceremony at 1:30 pm on the 2nd of next month, and the LPBA will enter the round of 32 from 2:00 pm on the 3rd.
The tournament concludes all group leagues by the 7th, and after the round of 16 on the 8th, the quarterfinals on the 9th, and the semifinals on the 10th, the LPBA at 11:00 am on the 11th and the PBA final at 10:00 pm determine the winner.