'Kim Ga-young 2 wins' Hana Card wins dramatic upset on the final day... Team League 4R top → PS qualification secured
'Kim Ga-young 2 wins' Hana Card wins dramatic upset on the final day... Team League 4R top → PS qualification secured
Blog Article
Hana Card Hana Pay, the "defending champion" of the PBA team league, brought down Woori Financial Capital in the final day and reached the top of the fourth round of the PBA team league.
Hana Card won the set score 4:2 against SY on the final day of the fourth round of the "Welcome Savings Bank PBA Team League Gwangmyeong City Tour 2024-2025" held at Gwangmyeong Civic Gymnasium in Gwangmyeong, Gyeonggi Province on the 27th. Hana Card, which finished the round with 6 wins and 2 losses (17 points), dramatically came from behind to win as its competitor Woori Financial Capital lost to SK Rent-a-Car 3:4.
As a result, Hana Card reached the top of the fifth round last season, dramatically joined the postseason, won the championship, and this season, showing its hindsight to reach the top of the fourth round to secure a postseason berth.
On the other hand, Woori Financial Capital, which was able to win on its own, only added one point due to the defeat through the match. Woori Financial Capital, which finished the fourth round in second place (5 wins, 3 losses, 16 points), swallowed its regret at the threshold of another championship following the third round.
It was the final day when the ranking fluctuated following the end of each game. Until the previous day, four teams including Woori Financial Capital, Hana Card, High1 Resort, and Huons had strong possibilities of winning the title. Among them, Huons failed to win the title after losing the set score 1:4 at Crown Haitai in the first game.
In the following two matches, Hana Card won 4:2 against SY. In the first set (men's singles), Nguyen Quoc Nguyen (Vietnam) and Shin Jung-joo defeated Daniel Sanchez (Spain) and Hwang Deuk-hee with 11:8 (nine innings) and in the second set (women's doubles), Kim Ga-young and Kim Jin-ah won Han Ji-eun and Jang Ga-yeon with 9:5 (eight innings) to lead the game 2:0 in an instant.
SY then recovered one set by Sanchez winning 15:8 (6 innings) against Shin Jung-ju in the third set (men's singles), but Hana Card widened the gap again to 3:1 with Murat Najee Choklu (Turkiye) and Ayako Sakai (Japan) defeating Yusuke Mori (Japan) and Kwon Bal-hae 9:8 (8 innings) in the fourth set (mixed doubles). SY chased again with Park In-soo's victory in the fifth set (men's singles), but Kim Ga-young beat Han Ji-eun 9:6 (9 innings) in the sixth set (women's singles). As Hana Card reached 17 points, High1 Resort's victory also failed.
Naturally, attention turned to three games. The remaining contenders are Hana Card and Woori Financial Capital. If Woori Financial Capital wins three points against SK Rent-a-Car in the three games, it will win on its own, but in other cases, Hana Card won the championship.
Woori Financial Capital had a good performance in the early stages. Although it lost the first set to SK Rent-a-Car, it earned three sets from the second set, making the set score 3:1. However, the tide turned from the fifth set. In the fifth set, SK Rent-a-Car's Ngodinnai (Vietnam) beat David Zapata (Spain) at 11:5 (five innings) and Kang Ji-eun beat Thong Piavi (Cambodia) at 9:5 after 14 innings in the sixth set, tying the set score 3:3. This confirmed Hana Card's victory regardless of the outcome of the seventh set match. Woori Financial Capital lost to SK Rent-a-Car 3:4 and finished the round with five wins and three losses (16 points).
The 안전놀이터 MVP of the fourth round (prize money of 1 million won) was chosen as Cho Clue. Cho Clue led Hana Card to victory by posting 10 wins and 6 losses (single game, 1 loss, 9 wins and 5 losses in doubles) in the fourth round. Cho Clue won the PBA Team League's second MVP after the 2023-24 Final MVP. "Our team seems to win the title through a more difficult path than an easier path. I am especially grateful for Kim Jin-ah's progress. I am so happy that I won the title through good performance," Cho said at a press conference.
With Hana Card securing its fourth postseason berth this season after SK Rent-a-Car (1R win), Welcome Savings Bank (2R win), and NH Nonghyup Card (3R win), the remaining one ticket will be determined through the fifth round, which will resume in mid-February next year.
Meanwhile, PBA will hold its seventh tour of the season, "High1 Resort PBA-LPBA Championship 2024," at the High1 Grand Hotel Convention Tower in Jeongseon-gun, Gangwon-do, from the 1st of next month.