PBA "Supernova" Kim Young-won to Face Mentor Hacker in Round of 32

Professional billiards "supernova," 18-year-old Kim Young-won, has set up his first-ever match against billiards influencer Hacker.

Kim and Hacker advanced to the round of 32 after defeating Jang Nam-guk and Han Gyu-sik, respectively, in the round of 64 at the SY PBA-LPBA Championship (the 3rd tour of the 2026-2027 season featuring eco-friendly building materials) held at the Goyang 킨텍스(KINTEX) PBA Stadium in Gyeonggi Province.

On this day, Kim secured a dominant 3-0 set victory over Jang Nam-guk.

After seizing the initiative with a high run of 8 points in the 4th inning of the first set, he showcased his trademark heavy scoring by exploding with a high run of 12 points in the third set as well.

Hacker also turned away Han Gyu-sik with a 3-1 set score.

The two players, who will now face each other in the round of 32, share a special connection.

Kim is known to have received significant help during his early days in billiards by training at a billiard hall operated by Hacker.

Ahead of their first official match, off-court war of words between the two has been fierce.

Kim, the winner of the previous 2nd tour, vowed, "My practice match win rate is around 50-50. If we meet on the PBA stage, I will show you [my skills]." Hacker fired back, saying, "Young-won is the hottest player in PBA right now, but he still has more to learn. I will show him a lesson."

The head-to-head match between the two will take place today, July 31, at 11:00 PM.

In addition, top PBA rankers such as Cho Jae-ho, Choi Sung-won, Semih Sayginer, and David Zapata joined the round of 32 without upsets.

In the LPBA round of 16 for female professionals held on the same day, Han Seul-gi pulled off a major upset by unleashing an incredible 12 bank shots to defeat "billiards queen" Kim Ga-young with a 3-2 set score.

Kim Min-a, Kang Ji-eun, Park Jung-hyun, and Baek Min-ju also safely secured their spots in the quarterfinals.

(Photo courtesy of PBA, Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.