3-Cushion
ISTANBUL - A tournament was held at the Viyana Bistro Bilardo hall in Istanbul to commemorate Selim Özden, one of the important names in Turkish billiards who died of Corona a few months ago. Ibrahim Hayri Altuntaşlar and Adem Özçelik played the final. The proceeds of the tournament went to Selim Özden's family. The final was won by Adem Özçelik: 40-38 in 31 innings.
In the semi-finals Adem Özçelik won against Volkan Çetin 40-25 in 21, İbrahim Hayri Altuntaşlar beat Gökhan Salman 40-36 in 37. A total of 250 players took part in the tournament, including ladies, juniors and seniors.
Two big names in Turkish billiards, Semih Saygıner and Tayfun Taşdemir, showed their loyalty to Selim Özden with nice gestures and contributed to the tournament. Tayfun played in the final stage of the event and said he would hand over the prize to Selim Özden's family if he won. He lost unfortunately in the quarterfinals to Burhan Genç 40-32 in 24 innings.
Semih Saygıner did not play, but made a great gesture. On the day of the final, he played an exhibition match and gave a one-hour stand-up show. The sale of the tickets went to Selim Özden's family. In addition, the model cue Theory Rhythm R-1, produced by Theory Company with Selim Özden's name, was offered for sale under Semih Saygıner's lead.
The event was among others attended by Ersan Ercan, the president of the billiard federation, Murat Tüzül, the vice-president and Mehmet Gören, the owner of Theory Company.
Semih Sayginer speaks to the players and others on the final day