At the end of a day, with sometimes wonderful, but in the words of Semih Sayginer really bad billiards, the Turkish player was a lucky winner in the third group of the AGIPI Billiard Masters. He kept Peter de Backer, who played a draw against Torbjörn Blomdahl, out of the main tournament. But after he did it, he admitted: “I think that Peter de Backer deserved it more than I do, but fighting for each point and shaking from my whole body, I came washed out to the finish. And I won, it’s a miracle.”

Torbjörn Blomdahl was a much better winner over the whole day, beating Sayginer and Duval and sharing the match with Peter de Backer, the unlucky man. The Belgian played again with confidence and on a high level against Blomdahl. He made the only run of ten in the last session of the day, came back in the track of his opponent after being behind with 16-0 and 28-8 and then, in the finishing sprint, he did a hell of a job when Blomdahl raised his cue after his last point. De Backer equalised with a final run of eight.

Semih Sayginer, sick as he was, saw it from his chair and realized that he had to beat Duval to go to the final round. The match went on and on, both players rested in balance, but than there was a short revival of Sayginer. He played out, leaving Duval on 42. The Frenchman took his chance from acquit, but missed on 47. The match took 42 innings.

Six of the eight players who come back for the main tournament are known now. Dick Jaspers, Roland Forthomme, Frédéric Caudron and Eddy Merckx were already qualified, Torbjörn Blomdahl and Semih Sayginer are the numbers five and six.

Torbjörn Blomdahl is leaving for a holiday now. “I’m going skiing in Austria”, he said. Semih Sayginer, who’s going to take a rest for a few weeks, told his friend: “Don’t break your legs, Torbjörn !”
Blomdahl finished with 2.083 average, Sayginer with 1.476, De Backer with 1.845 and Duval with 1.120. Blomdahl was also the leader in the score of the prizemoney. He won 5.200 euros, De Backer 4.050, Sayginer 3.100 and Duval 900.

The ultimate moment, in the second round of today’s qualification, didn’t come from the table where Torbjörn Blomdahl and Semih Sayginer were meeting in what was announced as the match of the day. It was on the other part of the arena that Peter de Backer from Belgium got a huge cheering from the tribunes, when he sparkled with a run of fourteen and cleaned the table in just 15 innings.

That was, with two matches to go, the highest run of the day and the best match of the tournament until now. He was absolutely flattered with the ovation after his last point, was laughing when they told him he earned 2800 euros in one match, but seemed also a little bit disappointed, because his lost match against Sayginer in the first round may come back and hurt him for the qualification. But still he managed to beat a powerless Christophe Duval, with a score of 50-17 in 15 innings.

The match between Blomdahl and Sayginer was not from that level, although the Swede had some great moments with runs of eleven, ten and eight. He didn’t feel threatened by Sayginer who was not in his top form today, looking tired most of the time on his chair and sometimes also on the table, where the balls didn’t follow what his mind wanted them to do.

And so the match between the two titans ended in a 50-24 in 20 innings, which means that Blomdahl is the first qualifier from this group.

In a period of his career which makes him so angry and disappointed, Semih Sayginer can still play billiard on an incredible level. The turkish player, who’s not allowed from his federation to play international official tournaments, showed his talent to the crowd in his first match of the AGIPI Masters. He told the people after his win against Peter de Backer: ”I felt sick when I came here, but now I’m relaxed and fit. And I’m really in a good shape.’’

His start was not so impressive, but after a magic shot in the 8th inning (which you can watch in the “video magazine” section), Sayginer got his rhythm and the auditorium enjoyed some wonderful points. He overtook his belgian opponent only in the 17th inning (34-31), made a wonderful run of ten in the 18th and finished two innings later with 50-31 in 22.

Both favorites in the groupe A had a good start, as Torbjörn Blomdahl also had a quick control over the balls. The Swedish player did almost everything he wanted, except making runs of ten and more. Twice he ended his runs at nine in his match against Christoph Duval, who could’nt find an answer on the sparkling rushes of Blomdahl. On a half-time score of 23-12 in the 10th, the first nine-run rolled over the billiard. The Swede repeated it five innings later, on 46-15. Three innings later he reached the finish with 50-20 in 18.