The "forgotten champion," Won Joon Choi, 45, made a triumphant return. He won his second PBA Tour title in 1,538 days.
Wonjun Choi defeated 'Turkiye powerhouse' Birol Wimaz (Welcome Savings Bank) in the final of the NHCard PBA Championship, the sixth tour of the professional billiards PBA, with a set score of 4-2 (15-5, 14-15, 10-15, 15-3, 15-9, 15-2) at the Goyang Kintex PBA Stadium in Goyang, Gyeonggi-do, Korea.
Choi burst into tears as he collected the 100 million won first prize. It was Choi's second career podium finish in exactly 1,538 days (4 years and 2 months) after winning the third tour (Welcome Savings Bank Welbeck Championship) in the 2019-20 season, the inaugural season of the PBA, on August 30, 2019.
With his victory, Choi also shook off the bitterness of being released after just one season after joining the Blue One Angels at the start of the 2020-21 season in the TeamLeague. With the win, 온라인카지노 Choi also became the first player to win a PBA Tour title who was not part of the TeamLeague.
Choi got off to a good start. After a slow start in the first three innings, Choi came out firing in the fourth inning with a 5-6-4 blast to score 15 runs and take a 15-5 (6th inning) lead over Birole, who scored just five runs.
However, Birol fought back to take the second and third sets. Choi Won-joon capitalized on two missed set point opportunities and took advantage of his mistakes to break back to 15-14. The third set was also a back-and-forth affair, with the long-hitting Birol winning 15-10 to take the set 2-1.
Choi Won-joon clinched the fourth set to level the match. Choi jumped out to an early lead with eight points, including a bank shot, before scoring one in the second and six in the third to reach 15 points in just three innings. Birole scored just three points to make it 15-3, and Choi won the set.
With the momentum on his side, Choi won another set to take the set 3-2. Tied at 4-4 in the fifth set, Choi opened up a 7-4 lead with a three-point attack in the third inning, and then went on a six-point run in the fourth to reach 13 points and win the match.
Choi sealed the match in the sixth set. He took advantage of a failed attack by Birole, who turned his first attack into a single run, to start the game with four points, then went on a 4-3 run in the second and third innings to reach 11 points. As if that wasn't enough, Choi swept the remaining four points in the fourth to close out the game 15-2.
Earlier in the day, Choi defeated Jeon Seung-rae and Park Jung-geun 3-0 in the Round of 128 and Round of 64, respectively, before turning the tables on Semi Signer (Huon's) in the Round of 32. In the round of 16 and quarterfinals, he defeated Kim Young-seop and Kim Hyun-woo (NHCard) 3-2 and 3-0, respectively, and in the semifinals, he came back from the brink of defeat against Choi Sung-won (Hewons) to win a close, full-set match 4-3 to advance to the final.
Meanwhile, the Welvang Top Ranking (KRW 4 million), awarded to the player with the highest average in a single match, was won by Kang Dong-gung (SK Rent-a-Car), who recorded an average of 2.813 against Lim Sung-gyun (Hi One Resort) in the Round of 32.
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