The slump of Cambodian-born star Sruong Pheavy of Woori Financial Capital is dragging on.
Sruong lost 18-22 in 26 innings to Oh Su-min on the opening day of the round of 128 in the women's division (LPBA) of the fifth event of the 2026-2027 Professional Billiards Association (PBA) tour, the NH NongHyup Card PBA-LPBA Championship, held on the 18th at the KINTEX PBA Stadium in Goyang, Gyeonggi Province.
Sruong led 17-14 through the 21st inning but conceded points in the 22nd and 23rd innings to allow a 17-17 tie, then gave up three points in the 25th inning to fall behind 17-20. Sruong managed only one point in the final 26th inning, and Oh added two to close out the match.
Sruong, who reached 10 career titles with a win at the season's second event, the High1 Resort Championship, in June, has now tasted defeat in the round of 128 in her first match of this event, after being eliminated in the round of 64 at both the third and fourth events.
By contrast, Kim Ga-young of Hana Card, dubbed the queen of billiards and chasing her 20th career title, posted a high run of eight points to beat Kim Sung-eun 25-5 in 13 innings and secured a spot in the round of 64.
On the 19th, round-of-128 matches and the round of 64 follow in order, featuring defending champion Jung Su-bin of NH NongHyup Card, Lee Mi-rae of High1 Resort, Kim Min-a of NH NongHyup Card, Park Jung-hyun of Harim and Lim Jung-sook of Crown Haitai. The men's division (PBA) round of 128 begins on the 20th.
Meanwhile, with a different winner emerging at each of the first four events in both the PBA and LPBA this season, attention is on whether a first multiple-title winner will appear.