Semih Saygıner
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Semih Saygıner is a world-class Turkish professional billiards player. He was born on November 12, 1964 in Adapazarı, Turkey. His father and mother died on traffic accident, while he was fourteen years old.
He started playing billiards when he was 16 years old. Saygıner won İstanbul Championship at 17. Then he obtained accomplishments in international area. He completed at ninth order in 1991 German Open and 1991 İstanbul Efes Pilsen Grand Prix. Then in 1992 in Berlin World Championship, he has beaten world champion of three-cushion billiards Belgian Raymond Ceulemans by 3-0 and became the eighth.
He ranked third in 1993 World Billiards Championship in Berlin, and won the 1994 World Cup (Three-cushion). He is playing in Holland Billiards League since 1994.
Saygıner was the winner of the 1998 World Billiards Championship (Three-cushion) held in Kemer, Antalya in Turkey by beating Cerwın Walentıjn from Netherlands. In 2003, he won the championship in Las Vegas, USA beating European champion Dick Jespers of Netherlands, and regained his title. He won 2003 World Billiards Team Championship held in Mönchengladbach, Germany along with his teammate Tayfun Taşdemir defeating the Greek team in the finals.
On February 7, 2004 he was named "Best Billiard Player in the World for 2003" in Antwerp, Belgium. Called "Mr. Magic" or "Turkish Prince", he is recorded in world billiards literature for his 42-shot technique. As of July 2006, he ranks 8th in the world players list of Union Mondiale de Billiard.
The four-time world champion is married with Women's Billard Champion of Turkey Aygen Berk.
