A part-time job at a pool hall and a release from her team league last season. This is the path that led her to the Women’s Professional Billiards Association (LPBA) championship. Through it all, Choi’s billiards life has blossomed into a championship.
Choi Hye-mi defeated Kim Ye-eun, a teammate of Welcome Savings Bank, with a set score of 4-2 (4-11, 11-4, 11-5, 11-5, 6-11, 11-8) in the final (best-of-seven) of the 6th Tour NH Card LPBA Championship of the 2023-2024 professional billiards season at Kintex PBA Stadium in Goyang City, Gyeonggi-do, on August 8 at 7:30 p.m. to win her first professional title.
Choi, who made her professional billiards debut in the LPBA Open Challenge, which was held for female players at the inauguration of professional billiards in 2019, became the first “former player” to win a professional title.
Kim Ye-eun and Choi Hye-mi were tied 3-2 through the sixth game of the first set. However, Kim swept four points in the seventh to extend her lead to 9-2. Choi Hye-mi pulled within two points with a bank shot, but Kim scored the remaining two points in the 11th to take the first set 11-4 in 19 minutes and 6 seconds.
The second set was tied at 4-4 through nine games before Choi scored a point in the 10th to take an 8-4 lead with a three-point run in the 12th. Choi scored three more in the 15th to make it 11-4. The set was tied 1-1. Choi Hye-mi took the third set 11-5 to level the set. Only two more sets to win the title.
In the fourth set, Choi continued to score in every inning to take a 7-1 lead after seven innings. She went on a 10-1 run in the 12th to reach set point. Kim Ye-eun scored two points in the 12th with a bank shot and then added two more to cut the deficit to 5-10. However, Choi made no mistake in the 13th game, finishing it off for an 11-5 win and a 3-1 set lead, putting her just one step away from the title.
Pushed to the brink, Kim scored two points in the first inning of the fifth set and led 8-1 through seven. Choi Hye-mi fought back to 6-9 in the 10th, but Kim scored two consecutive points in the 11th to take the set 11-6 and the match 2-3. 보스토토
Down one set to none, Choi Hye-mi seized the initiative in the sixth set, scoring three points in the first inning. However, Kim answered with one point in the first and three in the second to take a 4-3 lead. Choi Hye-mi scored a run in the third to tie the score at 4-4 and then again in the fourth to make it 5-4, but Kim answered back with two runs in the fourth to take a 6-5 lead.
Trailing 7-8 going into the eighth, Choi Hye-mi hit a bank shot for a 9-8 lead. Choi added two more points to take the set 4-2 and her first career win.