Baek Min-ju (27-Crown Hae-tae-Photo) defeated her friend and rival Kim Se-yeon (28-Huons) to reach the top of the Ladies Professional Billiards Association (LPBA) four years after her debut.
Baek Min-joo defeated Kim Se-yeon 4-3 (11-0, 1-11, 2-11, 7-11, 11-7, 11-6, 9-3) in a full-set thriller in the final of the Hana Card Championship, the third stop on the LPBA Individual Tour, at Kintex Stadium in Goyang City on Sunday. Baek, who debuted with the launch of professional billiards in 2019, earned 30 million won for her first title. Baek's previous best result was a runner-up finish at the Haiwon Resort Championship, the fifth tour, last season. She became the first winner of the PBA Stadium, the first official venue for professional billiards, which opened in the third tour.
"I was jealous of my friend Kim Se-yeon when she won the championship and cheered her on from the stands," says Baek, "and this season I trained to the point where I was told, 'You play billiards so ignorantly. I spent every waking hour of my day playing billiards, except for seven hours of sleep. I'm happy that my hard work finally paid off." Kim, who reached the final for the first time in almost two years after the TS Shampoo Championship in September 2021 and narrowly missed out on her fourth individual title, said, "I was disappointed to finish runner-up," but added, "My friend's first title means a lot to me."