Kang Dong-koong's dramatic come back

On the morning of Wednesday, which is the third day of the Blue One Resort Championship hosted by the Professional Billiards Association (PBA), Kang Dong-koong had a dream of his mother in Jinhae, Changwon, South Gyeongsang Province.

“This was the first time that I saw my mother in my dream. She smiled at me for a while before turning away and disappearing. I called her as soon as I woke up and she said everything is fine. My mother’s health is not good so I was feeling anxious about the dream.”

It did not take long to realize that it was indeed a lucky dream, not a bad one. Kang, a well-known billiards player of South Korea, won the Blue One Resort PBA Championship 4-3 against David Zapata from Spain on Monday at the Blue One Resort in Gyeongju. This is his second win following the one at the sixth tournament of the 2019-2020 season. Kang is the only South Korean player to have more than one win in the history of PBA. He also earned 100 million won and 100,000 ranking points as prizes.

Kang who was behind Zapata 0-3 until the third set won all remaining four sets, achieving a dramatic comeback. This is the first time that a billiards player achieved a win after losing three sets in the beginning and winning four sets in a row in the final rounds of PBA championships. “This is the biggest comeback win throughout my entire career,” said Kang. “I was disappointed to lose the third set by one point. When I decided to focus on showcasing my own unique powerful plays for the fans, rather than being single-minded on a win, my performance got better.”

His next goal is the PBA world championship, which is the ultimate billiards competition. “I want to become a player who showcases great performance until I am in my early or mid-50s. Afterward, I want to focus on various activities for the billiards community, such as training young players,” said Kang. He is getting married to professional billiards player Ha Ji-young on November 27. “My fiancée helped me with meals and other things during the championship,” said Kang.


leper@donga.com