The Billiards National Team, consisting of Semih Saygıner and Tayfun Taşdemir duo, defeated Sweden in the semi-finals and finished the European Billiards Championship with a bronze medal.
In the European Billiards Championship 3-cushion semi-finals held in Belek Tourism Center in Serik district of Antalya, the Billiards National Team consisting of Semih Saygıner and Tayfun Taşdemir faced the Swedish National Team consisting of Torbjörn Blomdahl and Michael Nilsson. National pool player Semih Saygıner was defeated 40-29 by Torbjörn Blomdahl; Tayfun Tasdemir managed to beat Michael Nilsson 40-25. As a result of the draw, the Nationals defeated Sweden 15-13 in the ‘Scotch Doubles’ and won the bronze medal.
SAYGINER: WE DID THE BEST WE CAN
Speaking to Demirören News Agency (DHA) after the match, national pool player Semih Saygıner said, “We wanted to win, but it didn’t happen. As a result of the draw, the match went to ‘Scotch Doubles’. Actually, we took it in the future, but the game changed in one position and they finished the game with 7 points. Something that can be done. No. Billiards is like this. Losing and winning in sports stand side by side, they are friends. There is nothing to do. I wish we had won the gold, but the bronze medal is not bad either. We did our best. Tayfun seems to take on a little more responsibility, he says, “I couldn’t score.” “There is something that I couldn’t hit before. This is a team game. No one loses a match because of anyone. That’s how things develop. There is both losing and winning. We wanted to be the European champion in our own country, we came in third, we are still happy. We didn’t play badly,” he said.
“IT WAS A DIFFICULT TOURNAMENT, WE WERE INTENSE MATCHES”
Emphasizing that it was a tough tournament in general, the national pool player said, “We played very intense matches. Today I played 2 matches, yesterday I played 3 matches. So there is a busy schedule. It is difficult, but of course the athlete has to overcome it. We overcame as much as we could. We played well, but we played well,” he said. That’s the game. This is billiards,” he said.
TAŞDEMİR: ONE POSITION DEFINED THE FATE OF THE GAME
National pool player Tayfun Taşdemir said in his statement, “It was a very difficult match. A single position determined the fate of the game. When I was 13-8, I played a defense and the opponent solved it and scored 7 points. Sometimes we see how valuable a cue is. This match was an indicator of ten. Good luck, I hope in the next tournaments,” he said.
“WE WOULD ACHIEVE THE BIGGEST SUCCESS IN MY LIFE WITH A EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIP”
Tayfun Taşdemir, who won both the individual and national team world championships this year, replied to the question about missing the individual European championship, “I actually had an allergy situation while coming to the tournament. I had physical problems. I couldn’t play much. Let’s just say it was unlucky. It’s been two days before. I couldn’t intervene. I couldn’t reflect my own game on the table. Otherwise, we would have achieved the greatest success of my life with a European championship; by winning 4 tournaments. It didn’t work, good luck. This is always good. We will look forward.”