Sayginer to Play in World Championship???

UMB World Cup

This seems very unlikely......

The only way he could into the tournament, is with a wild card. As the UMB have provided their wild card to Eddy Leppens, there are only 2 vacant wild card spots available. The organisation will be in charge for assigning these wild cards....
 
I would think Semih is a good bet for 1/3 wildcards. I don't know if he is in top shape at the moment, but he will not go without a win in any event he enters.

I am not up on the politics, but I hope there can be movement toward Sayginer rejoining the top echelon of 3c.
 
I realize that this is not exactly confirmation, but here goes.

I have a friend who is from Turkey so I asked him if he would try to find out from contacts there. He got the following reply from a friend of his: "My aunt, close friend of Semih Saygýner, says he'll be playing."

The official UMB site still only shows the ranked players and Leppens on the Player List (http://www.umb.org/ausschreibung/upload/results/150/A. Players List.pdf).

In any case, it seems that the feud between Semih and the Turkish Federation is over. That would be good news in itself.

Mark
 
unfortunately,the feud seems not to be overcome

Saygıner played recently in the Cristal Kelly tournament,If I remember the name correctly and scored 1.88 on average for 6 matches he played.He won only two matches but his lack of wincraft is understandable when considered his lack of match experience in recent years.1.88 is awesome anyway .Caudron who won that tournament has 2.1 and all the other top players around 1.7-1.8

I heard Saygıner say he practices 10 hours a day in an interview but I am not sure

He made a sponsorship deal with Longoni very recently.

regards,
 
I guess the bad news is finalized: Sayginer's picture has been removed from the home page for the tournament. I would still like to know why it was there to begin with.

Mark
 
Black-Balled said:
CAme across the linked interview with Semih yesterday.

Sounds just like pro-pool:rolleyes:.
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Interview+of+Semih+Sayginer&search_type=&aq=f
Click to expand...

When I clicked the link ,a lot of videos came out instead of just one.If you mention the interview video,in which he speaks with the dutch interviewer in english, it is the exact interview in which he fired all the bridges with the turkish federation.The problems' details are unknown to the general public, but when asked to Saygıner,he states the officials in federation are 'incompetent' in cue sports.As fas as I know,Saygıner and some other cueists supported other canditates in the election process of the turkish federation againts the current officials ,so Saygıner and his friends lost the cause and found themselves in the difficult position.The current federation is politically linked to the government.So Saygıner does not have a place to go complaining.(as a sidenote,Saygıner was once sometime the federation president himself in 90's)

But he is active.He plays for Porto.He has a sponsorship deal with Longoni .We see him in turkish TV /radio commercials. He campaigns for billiards.

He froze his carrier and I do not see a comeback but there is a way out.His extraordinary quality.The current federation cannot find another champion.A lot of players come out but apart from Tasdemir, no Turkish player poses a threat in the cups.The federation may be forced to call him back becouse when the success is not there,their seats may be in peril.

regards,
 
TimurA,

Thank you for sharing your perspective. I agree that his extraordinary skill might be his salvation with respect to his feud. I would love to see him back in regular competition.

Mark
 
Agreed, TimurA!

Thanks for your input. I see how Semih's interview would have caused some ill feelings!
 
The complete list of players is now available on www.umb.org. (No Sayginer and no De Backer, whose picture is still up). Two US players were selected by the Panamerican Billiard Confederation: Pedro Piedrabuena and Hugo Patino.

Mark
 
mbvl said:
... Two US players were selected by the Panamerican Billiard Confederation: Pedro Piedrabuena and Hugo Patino.

Mark
Click to expand...
It was more a qualification than a selection. Pedro won the CPB championship in Buenos Aires and Hugo finished 6th. The CPB sends 8 players to the WC3C but no more than two from one country. In the past, the USBA has sent players directly to the WC3C; this is the first year we have had to qualify players and our players did pretty well.

Bob Jewett
President, USBA
 
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