Vietnamese rising star Nguyen Tran Thanh Tao (T. Nguyen, 29) claimed his first PBA title in just his second tour on the circuit.
In the final of the SY Championship — the third tour event of the 2026-2027 season — held Monday at PBA Stadium in Kintex, Goyang, Gyeonggi Province, T. Nguyen defeated Semih Sayginer (Turkey, 61) in a seven-set match, winning 4-3 with scores of 10-15, 15-5, 6-15, 12-15, 15-9, 15-10 and 11-9 to complete a remarkable comeback.
T. Nguyen, who joined the PBA this season through a priority registration, reached the top of the standings in only his second tour event. He became the third Vietnamese champion in PBA history, following Ma Minh Cam (NH NongHyup Card) and Nguyen Quoc Nguyen (Hana Card).
Having been eliminated in the round of 128 in his debut tour — the High1 Resort Championship — T. Nguyen advanced to the final this time by defeating Eddie Leppens (Belgium, High1 Resort), Lutfi Cenet (Turkey, High1 Resort), Shin Jeong-ju (Hana Card) and Choi Sung-won (Huons) in succession. The title earned him prize money of 100 million won ($69,800), vaulting him straight to third place in the season prize-money rankings.
The "Welcome Top Ranking" award — worth 4 million won and given to the player who records the highest single-game average in the tournament — went to Vietnam's Nguyen Phuong Linh (Harim), who posted an average of 4.091 against Shin Dae-kwon in the round of 64.
T. Nguyen had appeared headed for defeat at 1-3 down in sets, but he swept the fifth, sixth and seventh sets to sink the veteran Sayginer in a stunning reversal.
At a press conference after the awards ceremony, T. Nguyen said he had given up a stable life in Vietnam to pursue the PBA challenge. "I can't believe I actually won," he said. "No matter who I faced, I trusted myself and focused only on my own game — that's what made it possible."
yjc@heraldcorp.com
