By Elliott West
Introduction
Much has been made in recent months of the love for snooker in Turkey but actually, the traditional Turkish cue sport is three-cushion billiards. Turkey has excelled in this game with its most famous champion being Semih Sayginer. A man of humble beginnings, Semih has won various medals in this type of billiards, proudly representing Turkey on the international stage.
Life and Career
Born in 1964 and now 57 years old, Semih Sayginer is the son of Faruk, a tailor and mother Süreyya, a housewife. One of six children, his parents tragically died in a car accident in 1978 when he was only 14. A tragedy that caused him to suffer at school due to depression but luckily he found his road to recovery at the age of 16 through turning to billiards, the three cushion variety. This Turk was a natural and the very next year, he was taking part in the Istanbul Championship, a tournament that he went on to win. He would go on to become Turkish champion in 1987.
In 1991, he took part in the German Open and came eighth the next year after defeating world champion Raymond Ceulemans 3-0 in Berlin. Following on from this success, he transferred to the Netherlands Billiards Teams League, one of the biggest and best leagues in the country and went on to win the Three-Cushion Championship held in Antalya in 1998. A prize that was achieved by defeating Dion Nelin of Denmark in the final. He would go on to reach the final again the next year but lost to Daniel Sánchez. An achievement that made him the first Turkish player to win the title. Another Turkish player, Murat Naci Çoklu, would go on to win the title five years later.
In 2003 Sayginer won the UMB World Three-Cushion Championship beating the Greek player Fillippos Kasidokostas, the only Turkish player to win the championship and also won the World Three-Cushion Championship defeating Dick Jaspers. Wins that gained him international recognition and he was awarded the Best Billiards award in 2003 in Antwerp, Belgium.
Semih then transferred to Portugal and played for the FC Porto Billiards team and was their captain for three years, winning a bronze medal at the 2004 European Three-Cushion Cup. A fantastic achievement for a player that has won the Turkish Grand Prix on 25 occasions and who was the Turkish champion 14 times in three-cushion billiards and who has ten titles in Carom billiards. His highest average in a match was 3.571 in a match (50 points in 14 innings).
Saygıner sealed his name in billiards when he signed a deal with cue maker Longoni and had his own series of cues named after him. He announced his retirement from billiards in 2006, only competing in a selected few tournaments, his last being in an international event in 2007 but did come out of retirement in 2015, winning the Turkish Championship again and going on to be named for the Turkey national team.
Three-Cushion Billiards
This game certainly isn’t easy and takes a very skilled play to play it well. It involves three balls on the table, white, red and yellow. One of the players plays with the white and the other with the yellow and the aim of the game is to score points. In order to score a point, the player at the table needs to hit a red and his opponent’s ball in any order, but before they hit the second ball, they need to have hit at least three cushions. The player stays at the table as long as they score.
