'Kim Ga-young's 1 billion won breakthrough stopped,' Srong Piafi, the queen of the billiards world, roars with '女 second all-time' — 10th career win and 400 million won prize money breakthrough [Jeongseon On-site Review]

*This content was translated by AI.

Srong Piafi (36, Woori Financial Capital) once again showed a strong side against Kim Ga-young (43, Hana Card) and roared.

On the 10th, Srong defeated Kim Ga-young (High1 Resort) in the LPBA finals of the 2026-2027 season 2nd tour 'National Happiness Rest High1 Resort PBA-LPBA Championship' held at the Grand Hotel Convention Tower, High1 Resort, Jeongseon-gun, Gangwon-do, with a set score of 4-2 (11-5, 11-8, 6-11, 3-11, 11-8, 11-10) to claim the championship.

With this victory, Srong, who achieved 10 wins for the second time among LPBA players after Kim Ga-young (19 wins), added 0.4 billion won in prize money, bringing her cumulative prize money to 423.42 million won. Breaking the 400th million won cumulative prize money mark is also the second time for a female player, following Kim Ga-young (971.3 million won).

Srong defeated Lee Jae-hyun 25-9, 6-1 in the round of 128, Kim Myeong-hee 25-21 in the round of 64, and Lee Ji-yeon 1 in the round of 32 with a 3-0 sweep. In the round of 16, she defeated Han Seul-gi; in the round of 8, she beat Seo Han-sol (Hyumons) 3-1; and in the semifinals, she overcame Kwon Bal-hae (SW) 3-1 to advance to the finals.

Kim Ga-young and Srong met again for the first time in 275 days (9 months and 2 days) since the finals of the 4th tour (SY Veritium Championship) of the 2025-2026 season on September 7, 2025. At that time, Kim Ga-young defeated Srong with a set score of 4-2 to lift her 16th career championship trophy, but Srong held a 7-5 advantage in their all-time head-to-head record.

However, in their last five head-to-head matches, Srong had been at a disadvantage with one win and four losses, but once again showed a strong side against Kim Ga-young. Their head-to-head record in the finals also improved to 3 wins and 2 losses, giving Srong the upper hand.

From the early stages of the match, Srong completely took control. Kim Ga-young, who had the first serve in the first set, failed to score, and Srong immediately scored three points to gain momentum. Srong steadily accumulated points through the first four innings, leading 7-3, but managed only six consecutive misses. Kim Ga-young struggled even more. Srong finally added one point in the 11th inning, then scored two points in the 13th and one point in the 15th to take the first set.

In the second set, Srong fell behind 2-6 due to Kim Ga-young's early offensive push but tied the score at 8-8 by adding three points each in the 4th and 5th innings. After another five-inning scoring drought, Srong scored one point in the 11th and two points in the 12th to take a 2-0 lead in sets.

Kim Ga-young launched a fierce counterattack. Although she did not record a high run, she steadily scored points through the 10th inning to mount a comeback. In the fourth set, trailing 0-3, she scored 2-2-1-1-5 points over six innings to turn the match around.

In the fifth set, Srong led 8-2 after scoring two points in the 2nd inning and six points in the 4th. When Kim Ga-young tied the score at 8-8 after a three-inning scoring drought, Srong immediately added three points in the 8th inning to take the fifth set.

In the sixth set, Srong took the lead with a five-point high run starting from the first inning, prompting Kim Ga-young to rally with four points. Srong then built momentum and extended the lead to 9-4, making a victory seem likely. However, Kim Ga-young once again fought fiercely to tie the score at 10-10. In the 7th inning, Srong's second shot hit the kiss, passing the opportunity, and Srong immediately ended the match.

Kim Ga-young, who had the opportunity to reach the 20th-win gold monument for the first time in professional billiards, was on a 14-game winning streak in the finals but was stopped by Srong, recording her first runner-up finish since the opening match held in June of the 2023-2024 season, nearly three years later.

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*This content was translated by AI.