The ‘Hero Match’ created by professional billiards has come to an end. The result was ‘Superman’ Jae-ho Jo who won.
On the 8th, in the PBA final of the ‘Crown Haitai PBA-LPBA Championship’ held at the Bitmaru Broadcasting Center in Goyang, Jaeho Cho (NH Nonghyup Card) defeated Donggung Kang (SK Rent-A-Car) with a set score of 4-1 (15-2, 9-15, 15-12, 15-13, 15-14).
Until just before that, Kang Dong-gung held the record of two wins (SK Rent-A-Car Championship in the 2019-20 season, Blue One Resort Championship in the 2021-22 season), the most approved by a PBA domestic player. However, with the victory on this day, Jo Jae-ho set a record standing shoulder to shoulder with ‘best friend’ Kang Dong-gung.
In addition, Jae-ho Cho won the PBA Championship and won 100,000 ranking points, ending the regular season at number one in the overall rankings with a total of 261,500 accumulated points. The accumulated prize money was 222.5 million, pushing David Zapata (accumulated prize money of 141.5 million won) to second place.
In addition, after winning the Blue One Resort Championship in the opening game, they won the Crown Haitai Championship, the last tour of the season, and decorated the beginning and the end.
Previously on the 7th, the opening LPBA champion, Slong Piabi (Blue One Resort), defeated Kim Bo-mi (NH Nonghyup Card) and won the championship. This is an interesting case in which the men’s and women’s opening day champions won side by side on the final tour for the first time since the inception of the PBA.
The match between the two on this day immediately attracted the attention of billiards fans. The two players, who were considered top tier 3-cushion players in Korea since their amateur days, met for the first time in an individual set match after their PBA debut.
After the game, Cho Jae-ho visited the interview room and expressed his happy feelings without filtering, saying, “My goal was to win once a year, but I’m glad I did it twice.”
Because the opponent was Donggung Kang, I was able to hit it more comfortably. Jo Jae-ho, who said, “I wanted to play the finals with Korean players, so I burned more fighting spirit in the semifinals”. I started thinking about it,” he said. The secret to a relaxed shot in each set was already a generous mind.
The two of them were only 20 years old when they first met ‘best friend’ Kang Dong-gung. It has been over 20 years since I made kites little by little when national competitions were held. We have built strong friendships by playing matches. 메이저놀이터
The secret to his victory on this day was none other than a book he received as a gift. This is a book about mental management.
A phrase in the book , ‘Get used to being uncomfortable, or just go somewhere else and fail’
changed Jo Jae-ho’s mind. Every time he turned the page, Jaeho Cho’s mind changed. He removed from his mind the ‘tiny excuses for not being able to concentrate on the game’.
Jo Jae-ho joked, “The book is about 200 pages long. I brought it in, read half of it, and won. Now I just need to read the other half to prepare for the World Championship.” The silver trophy shone heavily next to the generous jokes. The runner-up Kang Dong- gung
, who conducted an interview earlier, said, “As a result, when the atmosphere was completely turned over to me, I was complacent in a good ball arrangement.” There, Jo Jae-ho showed his back, and I was hit a little more.”
The final slipped unfortunately, but some lessons were learned. Kang Dong-gung said, “Rather, I think the game went well because I followed my strengths while watching the opponent. I tried pitches and strokes of the ball that I hadn’t tried during the tournament. Now that it’s over, I’ll go to the training ground and practice again.”
The two protagonists, who closed the regular league shutter this season, did not forget to encourage each other affectionately.
Kang Dong-gung jokingly said to Jo Jae-ho, “I won twice this year, and I feel good that my close friend and I are envious of winning. I and Jo Jae-ho are the only domestic players to win twice, but I will take the third championship first.”
In response, Jo Jae-ho replied with a happy expression, “(Kang) Donggung, I think I had better luck today. There were a lot of lucky shots, so next time you should hit more to win.”
With this, the PBA, which has ended all regular tours, will continue the PBA Team League postseason schedule from the 17th.
From the 3rd of next month, the PBA World Championship, the ‘King of Kings’, will be held.
