Semih Saygıner

Semih Saygıner (born November 12, 1964), nicknamed Mr. Magic or The Turkish Prince, is a Turkish world champion professional carom billiards player specialized in three-cushion event.
Family life
Semih Saygıner was born to a tailor father Faruk and a homemaker mother Süreyya in Adapazarı, Turkey on November 12, 1964. He is the fifth of six siblings. His parents passed away due to a traffic accident in 1978 when he was 14 years old. Saygıner then started playing billiards. He had a good performance in high school but left for depression over the loss of his mother and father.
Saygıner opened up a billiards hall, and taught the cue sport. In 1995, he married Aygen Berk, a student of his, the women's billiards champion of Turkey and co-founder of the Turkish Billiards Federation. Their marriage ended a few years later.
From 1996 to 1997, he served as the president of the Turkish Billiards Federation.
Career
He began playing billiards at age 16, and focused on the cue sport. A year later, he participated at Istanbul Championship, and won his first Turkish title. Ranking many years on the second place at national level, he finally became Turkish champion in 1987.
In 1991, he participated at German Open. The next year, he placed world eighth when he defeated world-champion Raymond Ceulemans by 3-0 in Berlin. In 1994, he transferred to the Netherlands Billiards Teams League, one of the most important leagues of billiards. Saygıner won the Three-cushion World Cup held 1998 in Antalya after defeating Dutchman Gerwin Walentijn in the final. Saygıner won the 1999 CEB European Three-cushion Championship by defeating Dion Nelin of Denmark. He nearly won it again the next year but lost to Daniel Sánchez. He was the first from his country to win that tournament. His countryman Murat Naci Çoklu won the title five years later.
In 2003, Saygıner won the UMB World Three-cushion Championship defeating of Filippos Kasidokostas of Greece. He is the only Turk ever to win the championship. That same year, he won the last World Three-cushion Championship organized by the Billiards World Cup Association (BWA) beating Dick Jaspers. He and his teammate Tayfun Taşdemir became world champion at the UMB World Three-cushion Championship for National Teams held 2003 in Viersen, Germany. Saygıner was named Best Billiards Player 2003 in Antwerp, Belgium on February 7, 2004.
Saygıner transferred to Portugal playing for FC Porto Billiards team. He captained the team for three years, and won the bronze medal at the 2004–05 European Three-cushion Cup with the team.
He is the 25-time winner of Turkish Grand Prix in total. He won the Turkish champion title 14 times in three-cushion. Furthermore, he has ten champion titles in carom billiards in Turkey, as well as one each in cadre 47/2 and one-cushion. In 2006, he ranked at 8th place of the world bests of Union Mondiale de Billard (UMB). His highest average in a match is 3.571 (50 points in 14 innings).
In 2009, Saygıner signed a contract with the cue-stick producer Longoni. Under the contract, a series of cue sticks that bear Saygıner's name has been available from the company.
Saygıner announced his retirement from active sports in 2006, continuing to participate only in some international competitions. His last international participation was in 2007. However, he made his comeback in 2015 by winning the Turkish championship again. Following the championship, he was named to take part in the Turkey national team.
Achievements
1993
Three-Cushion World Cup Leg 3, Berlin, Germany
1994
Three-Cushion World Cup Leg 7, Ghent, Belgium
1995
Korea Three-cushion Open, Suwon, South Korea
Mersin International Tournament, Mersin, Turkey
1996
Mersin International Tournament, Mersin, Turkey
Three-Cushion World Cup Leg 7, Antwerp, Belgium
1997
Crystal Kelly Cup, Monte Carlo, Monaco
Three-Cushion World Cup Leg 6, osterhout, Netherlands
1998
Three-Cushion World Cup Leg 3, Lisbon, Portugal
Three-Cushion World Cup Leg 6, Bogotá, Colombia
Three-Cushion World Cup Leg 7, Torremolinos, Spain
Three-Cushion World Cup Leg 8, Oosterhout, Netherlands
Three-Cushion World Cup Leg 9, Antalya, Turkey
Three-Cushion World Cup, Antwerp, Belgium
Dutch International Tournament, Zundert, Netherlands
1999
Three-Cushion World Cup Leg 1, Seoul, South Korea
Three-Cushion World Cup Leg 2, Las Vegas, USA
USA Three-cushion Open, San Jose, California, USA
Dutch Grand Prix, Barendrecht, Netherlands
CEB European Three-cushion Championship, Porto, Portugal
2000
Three-Cushion World Cup Leg 1, Bogotá, Colombia
World Cup Series - Leg 5
Denmark Three-cushion Open, Denmark
USA Three-cushion Open, Boston, USA
USA Three-cushion Open, Atlanta, USA
Mexico Three-cushion Open, Mexico City, Mexico
Metropol-Diamond Cup, Antwerp, Belgium
CEB European Three-cushion Championship, Madrid, Spain
Greece Three-cushion Open, Athens, Greece
Japan Cup, Tokyo, Japan
2001
Three-Cushion World Cup Leg 3, Kuşadası, Turkey
Three-Cushion World Cup Leg 4, Lugo, Spain
Three-Cushion World Cup Leg 5, Oosterhout, Netherlands
Three-Cushion World Cup, Bogotá, Colombia
Metropol-Diamond Cup, Antwerp, Belgium
Crystal Kelly Cup, Monte Carlo, Monaco
2002
European Team Championship (with Dutch team Van Wanrooij), Porto, Portugal
Japan Cup, Tokyo, Japan
Crystal Kelly Cup, Monte Carlo, Monaco
2003
Three-Cushion World Cup, Las Vegas, USA
World Championship, Las Vegas, USA
World Championship, Valladolid, Spain
World National Teams Championship, Versen, Germany
2004
Three-Cushion World Cup Leg 1, Barendrecht, Netherlands
Three-Cushion World Cup Leg 2, Athens, Greece
Three-Cushion World Cup Leg 3, Seville, Spain
Three-Cushion World Cup Leg 3, Antwerp, Belgium
World National Teams Championship, Versen, Germany
Super Cup, Antwerp, Belgium
2005
Three-Cushion World Cup Leg 1, Sluiskil, Netherlands
Three-Cushion World Cup Leg 2, Hurghada, Egypt
European Teams Championship (with Portuguese team FC Porto Billiards), France
World Games, Duisburg, Germany
Crystal Kelly Cup, Monte Carlo, Monaco
Sang Lee International Open, Flushing, New York, USA
2006
Three-Cushion World Cup Leg 5, Istanbul, Turkey
CEB European Three-cushion Championship, Antalya, Turkey
UMB World Three-cushion Championship for National Teams, Vieersen, Germany
Sang Lee International Open, Flushing, New York, USA
2007
Three-Cushion World Cup Leg 2, Manisa, Turkey
Three-Cushion World Cup Leg 3, Corfu, Greece
Sang Lee International Open, Flushing, New York, USA
2008
Semi-finalist AGIPI Billiard Masters
2021
Three-Cushion World Cup Leg 2, Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt
Awards
1994 Olympic Torch Award, Istanbul, Turkey
2003 Sportsperson of the Year by newspaper Zaman, Istanbul, Turkey
2004 World's Best Three-cushion Player, Antwerp, Belgium
2004 Sportsperson of the Year by newspaper Milliyet, Istanbul, Turkey
References
External links
Magnificent Shots by Semih Sayginer
1964 births
Living people
Turkish carom billiards players
World champions in three-cushion billiards
Sportspeople from Adapazarı
Sports world record holders
Turkish expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands
Turkish expatriate sportspeople in Portugal
World Games bronze medalists
Competitors at the 2005 World Games
Three-cushion billiards players