Semih Saygıner, Turkey’s worldwide star in billiards
Semih Sayginer born in Adapazarı Turkey on 12 November 1964, is a professional 3-band billiard player.
Sayginer, who won his first World Billiards Championship in 1994, is known in the world with nicknames such as “Magic” (Mr. Magic) or “The Turkish Prince”. He has spent much effort for the “Billiards Federation” to be established in Turkey.
Having played professionally for 9 years in the Dutch league and 3 years in the Portuguese league, Sayginer has 42 special batting techniques that have entered the billiards literature as “Semih Sayginer Magic Shots” and is one of the most important names in this game in the world.
His success story consists of following achievements in many contests/tournaments:
1994 World cup champion (Ghent-Belgium)
1994 Olympic torch award (Istanbul-Turkey)
1994 World Cups series third place (6 feet)
Champion of the 1995 Korean open three-way tournament (Suwon-Korea)
1995 Mersin international tournament champion (Mersin-Turkey)
1996 Mersin international tournament champion (Mersin-Turkey)
1998 World cup champion (Goynuk-Turkey)
1998 World cup runner-up (Antwerp-Belgium)
1998 Dutch international tournament champion (Zundert-Netherlands)
1999 World cup runner-up (Lasvegas-USA)
Champion of the 1999 U.S. open three-way tournament (San Jose-USA)
1999 Dutch Grand Prix champion (Barendrecht-Netherlands)
1999 European champion (Porto-Portugal)
2000 World Cup series (5 legs)2.si
Champion of the 2000 Danish open three-way tournament (Denmark)
2000 U.S. open three-way tournament champion (Boston-USA)
2000 U.S. open tri-band tournament champion (Atlanta-USA)
Champion of the 2000 Mexican open three-way tournament (Mexico city-Mexico)
2000 Metropolitan Diamond cup champion (Antwerp-Belgium)
2000 European championships 2.si (Madrid-Spain)
2000 World cup champion (Bogota-Colombia)
Champion of the 2000 Greek open three-way tournament (Athens-Greece)
2000 Japan cup champion (Tokyo-Japan)
2001 World cup champion (Bogota-Colombia)
Champion of the 2001 Metropolitan Diamond cup (Antwerp-Belgium)
2002 European club champion (with Vanwanrooij pool team of the Dutch League)(Oporto-Portugal)
2002 Japan cup champion (Tokyo-Japan)
2003 World cup champion (Lasvegas-USA)
2003 World champion (Valladolid-Spain)
2003 National teams World champion (together with Tayfun Taşdemir) (Germany)
2003 Zaman newspaper special award for athlete of the year (Istanbul-Turkey)
2004 National teams World champion (together with Tayfun Taşdemir)(Viersen-Germany)
2004 World cup champion (Athens-Greece)
2004 World Cup series (5 legs) 2.si
2004 World player of the year award (Antwerp-Belgium)
2004 Super cup champion (Antwerp-Belgium)
2004 Milliyet newspaper special award for athlete of the year (Istanbul-Turkey)
2005 European club championship Bronze medalist (with FCPorto of the Portuguese league) (France)
Bronze Medalist of the 2005 World Games (Duisburg-Germany)
2006 European Championship Silver medalist
2nd place at the 2006 European Club ChampionshipsLeague
2016 National Teams World Championship runner-up (together with Lütfi Çenet)
2016 World 3rd Band Billiards Championship 3rdluxury (Bordeaux-France)
2018 World National Teams 3rd placesu (Viersen-Germany)[15]
2018 World Cup 3.su (France)
2018 World Cup 2nd place (Belgium)
3rd place at the 2018 World Championships su (Egypt)
