The professional billiards (PBA) season will be held. Attention is focusing on whether a Korean player will be the first to take the top spot in the PBA men’s prize money ranking, which has been dominated by foreigners since its inception.
The ‘SK Rent-A-Car PBA-LPBA World Championship 2023’ will start on the 10th at JTBC Studio in Goyang, Gyeonggi-do from March 2nd. It is the tournament with the biggest prize money as it concludes this season.
The men’s prize money is 200 million won and the women’s prize money is 70 million won. The total prize money is 505 million won, and only the top 32 players in the season prize money ranking can participate.
If you win, you can dramatically increase your season prize money rankings at once. 16th in the men’s prize money ranking (22.5 million won) Javier Palazon (Huons) of Spain could rise to first place with an additional 200 million won. The women’s division, which has a relatively small prize money, will be ranked first if they win the prize of 70 million won.
The current men’s prize money ranking is ‘Superman’ Jae-ho Cho (NH Nonghyup Card). Cho Jae-ho, who won the opening match of this season and the last tour of the regular season, accumulated prize money of 222.5 million won. The second place is Spain’s David Zapata (Blue One Resort) with 141.5 million won, and the third place is ‘strongest’ Belgian Frederic Kudron (Welcome Savings Bank) with 132.5 million won.
If Cho Jae-ho also wins the King of Kings match, he can keep the top spot in the money rankings for the season. This is the first honor for a Korean player since the PBA was launched in the 2019-2020 season.
Previously, the first place in the prize money rankings was the exclusive possession of foreigners. The first prize money ranking was David Martinez (Crown Haetae) of Spain, who won 150.5 million won, beating Kudron with 122 million won. The third place was ‘Greek monster’ Philippos Kasidokos (Hana Card), who earned 121.5 million won.
The second season was also a party for foreigners. As Zapata became the first King of Kings champion, he immediately rose to the top of the season rankings (306.5 million won) with a winning prize of 300 million won. Kasido Costas (139.5 million won) and Kudron (129.5 million won) followed.
Last season was the same. Kudron, who won the championship four times in a row, including the King of Kings, took first place with a whopping 506.5 million won. Zapata came in second with 155.5 million won, and ‘Hulk’ Dong-gung Kang (SK Rent-A-Car) was the first Korean player to make the season’s prize money ranking ‘top 3’ with 126.5 million won. 메이저사이트
This season is an opportunity for domestic players to defend their pride. First of all, while Cho Jae-ho is the only player to exceed 200 million won in prize money, Kang Min-goo (Blue One Resort), who lifted the championship cup in 4 matches and 5 seasons, is ranked 7th with 106 million won. Now is the opportunity to show off your local presence.
The women’s side is the exact opposite. In the meantime, domestic players have always kept the top spot in the prize money rankings. This time, foreign jockey ‘Cambodian Express’ Throng Piabi (Blue One Resort) gave a strong challenge.
Lim Jeong-suk (Crown Haetae), who won three games in the inaugural season alone, became the first prize queen (46.8 million won). In the following season, Kim Se-yeon (Huons), who won 100 million won in prize money by becoming the first queen of the King of Kings, took first place (120.75 million won). Last season, Kim Ga-young (Hana Card), the ‘Queen of billiards’, also won the King of Kings match and took first place with 102.6 million won.
This season, Throng is running first in the season prize money rankings (49.4 million won). Gayoung Kim is closely behind her with 48.15 million won. Japanese duo Orie Hida (SK Rent-A-Car) and Natsumi Higashiuchi, who won 24 million won in prize money this season, will also challenge for the top prize money ranking for the season.
In the King of Kings match, 32 players are divided into 8 groups, and the top 2 players advance to the round of 16. From there, the tournament progresses to the finals.