Semih Saygıner

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This is a Turkic name; the family name Saygıner is sometimes transliterated as Sayginer.

Semih Saygıner (born 12 November 1964, Adapazarı, Turkey) nicknamed Mr. Magic or the Turkish Prince, is a four-time world champion Turkish professional carom billiards player.

1 Early life
2 Professional career
3 Titles
4 Personal life
5 References

[edit] Early life

His father and mother died in a traffic accident when he was 14 years old. Saygıner started playing billiards when he was 16 years old, and won the İstanbul Championship at age 17.

[edit] Professional career

Moving into the international arena, he won 9th place in the 1991 German Open and the 1991 İstanbul Efes Pilsen Grand Prix.^{[citation needed]} Then in the 1992 Berlin World Championship, he took 8th place after beating Belgian world three-cushion billiards champion Raymond Ceulemans by 3-0.

He took 3rd place in the 1993 World Billiards Championship in Berlin, and won the 1994 World Cup (Three-cushion Division). He has played in the Holland Billiards League since 1994.

Saygıner was the winner of the 1998 World Billiards Championship (Three-cushion Division) held in Kemer, Antalya, Turkey by beating Cerwin Walentijn from Netherlands. In 2003, he won the championship in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA, beating European champion Dick Jaspers of the Netherlands, and regained his title. He won the 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"^{[attribution needed]} in Antwerp, Belgium. He is recorded^{[citation needed]} in world billiards literature for his 42-shot technique^{[not specific enough to verify]}. As of July 2006, he ranks 8th in the world players list of Union Mondiale de Billiard.

Saygıner shares the world record for the highest run in three-cushion billiards of 31 with Columbian Hugo Patiño who now resides in Queens in New York City.

[edit] Titles

CEB European Three-cushion Championship (1999)
UMB World Three-cushion Championship (2003)

[edit] Personal life

Semih is married to the Women's Billiard Champion of Turkey Aygen Berk Saygıner.

[edit] References

Preceded by Marco Zanetti	UMB World Three-cushion Champion 2003	Succeeded by Dick Jaspers

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