Jo Jae-ho and Kang Dong-gung defeated rising three-cushion prospects to advance to the round of 64.
The first day of the round of 128 at the PBA 2026-2027 season's third-leg SY Championship wrapped up Tuesday at the PBA Stadium in Kintex, Goyang, Gyeonggi Province. Jo defeated Kim Do-hyeon in a shootout, while Kang eliminated Im Taek-dong 3-1 in sets to reach the round of 64.
Jo took the first two sets before dropping the next two, forcing a shootout. He went first, converted a bank shot to lead 2-0, then sealed the win when Kim Do-hyeon missed a side-cushion shot.
Kang faced Im Taek-dong, who had earned promotion to the first-division tour after finishing runner-up at the seventh leg of last season's Dream Tour. Leading 2-1 in sets, Kang posted a high run of 14 points in the second inning of the fourth set and maintained his advantage throughout for a comfortable win.
Japanese three-cushion standout Mori Yusuke swept wild-card entrant Kim Do-gyun 3-0 to advance to the round of 64. "Mr. Magic" Semih Sayginer (Turkey) defeated Moon Ho-beom 3-1, and Nguyen Quoc Nguyen (Vietnam) beat Yoo Jun-seok 3-1. Oh Seong-wook eliminated Eom Sang-pil 3-1 to reach the round of 64, and David Zapata (Spain) dispatched Kim Tae-ho 2 by a 3-0 margin.
In the LPBA round of 32 held the same day, Kim Ga-young beat Lee Hwa-yeon 3-0 to advance to the round of 16. Kim Min-a defeated Woo Hwi-in 3-1.
On Friday, the fourth day of the tournament, the round of 128 and the second day of the LPBA round of 32 are scheduled.
yjc@heraldcorp.com
