■ M Interview – Kim Ga-young, female professional billiards player

After graduating from high school, she studied billiards in Taiwan and the US

. ‘Little Witch’ conquered the world in pool.

Even after returning to Korea in 2011, she proved herself to be the strongest

. In 2019, she

participated in ‘3-Cushion’ for the cause of ‘development of Korean billiards’. Received suspension of qualifications

30 Turned into a 3-cushion player in the late

1970s LPBA Best player in 4 seasons

Winning thanks to a thin player base Lucky

female players are making a new history

Goyang = Reporter Oh Hae-won ohwwho@munhwa.com

‘Little Witch’ Ga-young Kim (40) is the best in the world so far He has maintained his position as a pocket ball player. Then, under the cause of the development of Korean billiards, the 3-cushion competition, which she participated in for a while, completely changed her life. For Gayoung Kim, who never lost her position as the ‘absolute strongest’, the new challenge of the 3-cushion was half excitement and half fear, but the queue she had held for over 20 years did not betray him.

Kim Ga-young defeated Kim Ye-eun after a close match in the women’s professional billiards (LPBA) final of the’NH Nonghyup Card Championship’ held at Sono Calm Goyang, Gyeonggi-do on the 4th of last month and lifted her 5th championship trophy in her career. After winning the SK Rent-A-Car Championship for the first time in the 2019-2020 season, the first year of the LPBA, Wang Jung-wang won five times in four seasons. He became the new protagonist of the most LPBA championships, beating Lim Jung-suk and Lee Mi-rae (4 times).

Kim Ga-young, who we met at the tournament on the 11th of last month, said, “The path I walked as a pocket ball player was not very different from that of players in other elite sports. Like those players, I stood out from my teens and even won a world championship,” he said. “But the situation is different with the 3-cushion. I have been playing cue for a long time, so it can be said that I had some sense, but the reason I was able to win the championship after entering the team in my late 30s is because, to put it mildly, the player base is thin,” he said humbly.

Billiards can be largely divided into pocket ball, carum, and snooker. The pocket ball determines the outcome by putting the ball into the six pockets installed on the billiard table. Depending on the number of balls used in the game, it is divided into eight-ball, nine-ball, and ten-ball. Carum uses his certified cue ball to hit the target ball on a pool table without pockets. This is also divided into 3 balls, called 3 cushions, and 4 balls, which are enjoyed by many fans in Korea, according to the number of balls. Snooker is played by pocketing 8 colors and 22 balls in turn.

Pokéball and carum belong to the same billiards, but they are distinctly different sports. It may be less awkward, but the event change was a dangerous challenge for Kim Ga-young. Moreover, as he left his 22-year-old pocketball life behind and jumped into the 3-cushion game in his late 30s, success could not be guaranteed. But he didn’t give up. Kim Ga-young stood tall as the strongest. It is his achievement after 4 years of initiation of 3 cushions.

Kim Ga-young started playing billiards purely because of her father’s influence. Her father, a former judo player, runs a billiard room and teaches his young daughter how to play billiards as a hobby. Blood in the athlete’s family was soon exposed. The father, who noticed her extraordinary skills in hitting 4 balls with a long cue among adult club members, suggested her daughter become a billiards player when she entered middle school. As much as I confirmed her extraordinary persistence and fighting spirit, I was confident that she could succeed.

Accepting his father’s will, Kim Ga-young of Middle 1 entered the tournament a year later as a pocket ball player rather than a 4-ball player. Attached to her father’s billiard room, she worked hard to hone her skills, aiming to become the female billiards player in the poster. “At that time, she thought it was really cool that she was living as a professional billiards player in the United States more than anything else,” she laughed.

She went to middle school and high school, and Gayoung Kim, who was already among the strongest players in Korea, left for Taiwan, a billiard powerhouse, with her high school graduation. At the crossroads between her university entrance and overseas expansion, Gayoung Kim’s choice was to study abroad in Taiwan, which produced world champions in both men’s and women’s billiards at the time. Gayoung Kim said, “She wasn’t afraid to go to Taiwan. Her admiration for those who are good at billiards was greater than her fear of practical problems,” she said. At that time, Taiwan was a new world to me,” she explained.

I left with 2 million won in Korean money and lived in Taiwan for two years. He survived tenaciously in Taiwan, where he vowed to come back when he ran out of money. Even if she couldn’t understand her words, she participated in the competition and earned prize money with the determination to survive by eating triangular gimbap. Just like that, in less than two years, he dominated the Taiwanese billiards world. Her nickname of ‘Little Witch’ came about then. To explain it in our language, it was Akbari, and it was a high praise that the young Kim Ga-young was very good.

Her usual idol, she defeated Liu Xin-mei (柳信美) of Taiwan in 2004 and 2006, where she won two consecutive World Championships. At the time she was 21 years old. She had no rivals in Taiwan. What Gayoung Kim needs now is a new experience. Her stage of activity moved to the United States.

Her American life was different from what she thought. Even when she first went to Taiwan and when she first went to the United States, the language was the biggest problem for her, but her life in the two countries was diametrically opposed. Unlike Taiwan, where she lived in a friendly atmosphere with the Korean Wave craze added to her appearance, everything in America was unfamiliar. She was often looked down on because of that, but on the contrary, her desire to win increased. “That’s why she liked America better,” said Gayoung Kim. Instead, she thought that I should fight and win. Even in the US, she took about two years to become number one in the rankings,” she said.

Kim Ga-young, who conquered Taiwan and the United States in turn, made a name for herself as one of the world’s leading women’s pocketball professional players. She then returned to Korea in 2011. She was still the strongest, but it was to prepare her for her post-fighter life. Kim Ga-young said, “She returned home to go to college. When she was in her late 30s, she planned to retire and start preparing for her leadership,” she explained. Even after she came to Korea, an unexpected turning point in her life came to Kim Ga-young, who had consistently won international competitions. It is the launch of her 2019 professional billiards.

Even though the sport is different, Ga-Young Kim, who was favorable to the launch of professional billiards as a billiards player, decided to participate as her invited player. As a billiards player, she wanted to help change the public perception of the sport. To some extent, she felt that she had to accept her disadvantage. However, the Korea Billiards Federation gave Kim Ga-young a severe punishment of suspension of her player qualifications at the time. So, pocket ball player Kim Ga-young had no choice but to become a 3-cushion player.

Ga-Young Kim, who became the number one LPBA winner in four years of her initiation, is preparing for an unprecedented challenge in her 3-cushion history. She set a new goal to break the 1.35 average. Average is the number of runs scored divided by innings played. 토토사이트

The higher the average, the better the skill. Currently, Gayoung Kim’s average is 1.012. Throng Piabi (1.030, Cambodia) is the only one with a higher average than Kim Ga-young. Kim Ga-young said, “Until I won the championship, they said that there would never be a pool champion in Korea. But I became a champion. Even on three cushions, no female player can hit an average of more than 1.35, she says. It may not work, but I wonder why I can’t. LPBA female players, including me, are making a new history,” she emphasized.

For Gayoung Kim, the recent promotion of the female baduk player Choi Jeong, 9th dan, is a great source of strength. Choi Jeong-eun defeated Byeon Sang-il, 9th dan, in the semifinals of the 2022 Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance World Baduk Masters held in December last year, and became the first female Go player to advance to the finals of the world tournament. She is the first female athlete to reach a male-only domain that no one else has reached until now. Although she was unfortunately defeated in the final, her symbolism that she first stepped on the ‘land of forbidden women’ went beyond her category and pulled Kim Ga-young’s will to challenge.

Kim Ga-young said, “In the PBA, male players in their 50s are in their prime. She doesn’t even look particularly fit. It seems that there is a special secret only for male players,” he said. “I think the role of female players is important now. We’ve done a lot so far, but we can do more in the future. Like Go player Choi Jeong, I will try to narrow the skill gap with male players. Let’s see how far the girls can go,” she said.

“I was always afraid of myself while playing billiards… When I play, I ‘pretend to be strong’ as if I’m not nervous.”

■ Who is her biggest rival?

Kim Ga-young (40), who transformed from the world’s best pool player to a 3-cushion player, always had rivalries. No matter how different the sport was, as long as he lived with the billiard table and queue for over 20 years, his every move was bound to draw attention.

Kim Ga-young, who was accustomed to competition from a young age, was not unfamiliar with the rivalry. “There was always a rivalry,” said Kim Ga-young. As he always competed for first and second place and grew up together, it was possible to point out a specific player.” But the 3 cushion was different.

Kim Ga-young, who calls herself “I am a player who suddenly jumped in,” said, “At first, Cha Yoo-ram, who turned side by side in the pocket ball, was pointed out as a rival. Then, he changed to Lee Mi-rae, and a rivalry with (Slong) Piabi was created again. I am grateful to be called a rival with famous players, but there is no player who feels like a rival.”

Kim Ga-young, who won the most in Women’s Professional Billiards (LPBA), said that her biggest rival was “herself.” He said, “I was always afraid of playing billiards,” he said. He confessed, “As long as his career is short, he always thinks he can collapse.”

Kim Ga-young herself said, “When I was a pocket ball player, there were no intervals (the time it takes for the game to progress), so I was within three fingers. Even if he made a mistake while playing, he was quick to judge what points to correct,” he said. However, he often exceeded the time limit of 30 seconds as he was no different from a beginner in 3 cushions. It is because he is late in judging the game situation. Kim Ga-young said, “In the 3-Cushion, I am more anxious because I do not know if I will make a basic mistake that I did not think of because of the small amount of accumulated data. Still, I think it’s getting stronger little by little. In fact, he is very nervous every time he plays, but he always pretends to be strong to look like he is not,” he said with a broad smile.