'18-Year-Old Billiards Prodigy' Kim Young-won's Era Has Dawned, Becoming 'First to Break 500 Million Won in Prize Money – Joint 3rd Most Wins'... Even Surpassing 'Four Great Kings' Sanchez [Jeongseon On-Site Review]

*This content was translated by AI.

'18-Year-Old World Champion' Kim Young-won (Harim) defeated 'Vietnam's Pride' Ngo Dinh Nai (35, Hyumons) to claim the title once again. This victory firmly imprinted upon billiards fans that Kim Young-won's era has truly begun.

On the 11th, Kim Young-won defeated Ngo Dinh Nai (Vietnam, Hyumons) with a set score of 4-2 (15-8, 15-9, 11-15, 15-3, 12-15, 15-4) in the PBA finals of the 2026-2027 season 2nd tour 'People's Happy Retreat High1 Resort PBA-LPBA Championship' held at the Grand Hotel Convention Tower, High1 Resort, Jeongseon-gun, Gangwon-do, securing the championship.

At the age of 18 years, 7 months, and 26 days, Kim Young-won claimed his 4th career victory, tying with Kang Dong-gung (Hyumons) for joint 3rd place in most wins. He even surpassed Daniel Sanchez (Welcome Savings Bank, 3 wins), one of the 'Three-Cushion Four Great Kings'.

By winning the 100th million won prize money, his cumulative total reached 571 million won, making him the 6th player in history (including Frederic Coudron) to surpass 500 million won in cumulative prize money in the men's division. Now, only five players remain ahead of him: David Martinez (Crown Haetae, 1.0405 billion won), Frederic Coudron (994.5 million won), Jo Jae-ho (NH Nonghyup Card, 982.5 million won), David Saphata (Woori Financial Capital, 827 million won), and Kang Dong-gung (Hyumons, 790 million won). Furthermore, the title 'youngest' accompanies all these records. Kim Young-won is rewriting the history of professional billiards.

Kim Young-won, who advanced from the Challenge Tour (3rd division) and Dream Tour (2nd division) to the 1st division for the 2024-2025 season, enjoyed his first championship thrill that year and secured two victories last season, including the King of Kings PBA World Championship.

In the season opener, Kim Young-won was eliminated in the round of 32, but he regained his world champion form in this tournament. Starting from the round of 128 against Kim Jeong-hoon2, he defeated Kim Ki-hyuk in the round of 64 and Kim Hyun-woo1 in the round of 32, all with shutouts.

In the round of 16, he defeated two-time champion Eddie Levens (High1 Resort) 3-1, and in the quarterfinals, he beat Eom Sang-pil (Woori Financial Capital) 3-2 after a full-set thriller, securing consecutive comeback victories and demonstrating formidable stamina. Notably, his average in the quarterfinals reached an impressive 2.591.

He continued his momentum in the semifinals against Shin Jeong-ju. Although he narrowly lost the third set 14-15, he won the remaining sets to reach the finals, where he faced Vietnam's star player Ngo, who was making his first championship challenge.

Kim Young-won, who held a perfect 2-0 record in all-time head-to-head matches against Ngo Dinh Nai, pushed hard from the first set. After successfully making the opening shot, he allowed a 4-point comeback by Ngo in the second inning but responded with 4 points in the fifth inning to reverse the flow. While Ngo failed to score in three consecutive shots, Kim Young-won scored 2-1-3-2 points from the seventh inning onward, successfully seizing the initiative.

His momentum did not wane in the second set either. Although Ngo started strong and took a 5-0 lead, Kim Young-won scored 1 point in the first inning, 2 points in the second, and then an incredible 7-point run in the third inning, reaching 10 points in an instant. He ultimately finished the second set in just eight innings.

It seemed Kim Young-won would take the first three sets. After making the opening shot and building momentum with a 7-point run, Ngo scored 2 points each in the first and second innings to trail 4-11. However, in the third inning, Ngo scored an incredible 11 points to stage a successful comeback.

In the fourth set, Kim Young-won started as the second shooter and immediately pressured Ngo with a 9-point run. After a brief pause in the second inning, Kim added 4 points in the third inning and 2 more in the fifth, drawing closer to victory.

In the fifth set, he started smoothly with a bank shot on the opening ball, followed by a 6-point run. Trailing 5-0, Kim bowed his head in apology after a bank shot scored differently than calculated. He expressed his apology again after scoring in the subsequent shot. The score was 10-0. No one doubted Kim Young-won's victory.

However, Ngo launched a fierce counterattack. Entering the fifth inning with amazing concentration, he scored 9 points in a row to close the gap to one point. He narrowly missed tying the game with a kiss shot, and although Kim Young-won extended his lead by 2 points, Ngo immediately scored 6 consecutive points in the seventh inning to push the match to a sixth set.

Although he started the sixth set by conceding 2 points, Kim Young-won, who had scored 7 points, did not give Ngo any chance when he failed to score in the second inning. He extended his lead by 5 points and added 3 more in the third inning, roaring once again.

After 3 years and 4 months, precisely 1,234 days since January 30, 2023, Ngo, who advanced to the finals to challenge for his debut championship, earned 34 million won in runner-up prize money, bringing his cumulative total to 154 million won. In the semifinals held on this day, he recorded an average of 3.000, winning the Welcome Top Ranking and receiving an additional 4 million won in prize money to console himself.

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*This content was translated by AI.