ISTANBUL - The European Cup for club teams was for many years the stage where the legendary Agipi team, headed by Claude Fath, had his most glorious moments. The team won the Cup eight times in a row as of 2005 and seemed to be unbeatable with its star players Frédéric Caudron, Marco Zanetti, Jérémy Bury and Jean Christoph Roux. The hegemony came to an end two years ago, in the Agipi arena itself, where four Turkish top players (Tayfun Tasdemir, Lütfi Cenet, Adnan Yüksel and Murat Naci Coklu) under the name of Bahcelievler robbed the title from the invincible team.
After their victory in Schiltigheim, in 2013, with an exceptional average 1.746, Bahcelievler recorded a second success in Istanbul last year. Bahcelievler defeated the Belgian BC Deurne in the final. The double winners are again one of the main favourites this weekend (29 to 31 May), undoubtedly with a rarely strong competition. The opposition for the Turks will mainly come from the magical foursome of Dallinga/AEJ, that was superior in two leagues (Netherlands and Belgium) this year and brought the world record team average to 2.597!!
Lütfi Cenet, player of the defending champion, who showed his great form with a Grand Prix victory last week, is looking forward to a great fight for the overall win. He knows that Dallinga will be a very tough competitor. ,,But Agipi was also unbeatable, yet we defeated them in their own house and then also became European champion for the second time.''
Tayfun Tasdemir, the frontman of the team, about the chances: ,,This tournament is different for us than all the other events: we are playing in front of our own spectators, that's very important. We are ready to fight with a good focus and a great motivation. We always are more strong to battle when we play a World team championship or European championship. I expect between 400 and 600 spectators, so, it will be a fantastic ambiance.''
Lütfi Cenet: ,,The positions three and four are very important in the team. There we play with Adnan Yüksel and Murat Naci Coklu, two players who were very strong in the previous tournaments, they beat famous opponents.''
The team Bahcelievler is supported by a major: the Bahcelievler district, with a million people one of the biggest in Istanbul. In the Sports Centre where the European Cup is played, many other sports are active, both for professional and amateur athletes. Hasan Cabukol is one of the organizers of the district and coach of the team Bahcelievler.
The last European title was achieved in the final against BC Deurne, after the Belgians had dealt with Agipi in the semi-finals (amongst others by a victory of Dick Jaspers against Frédéric Caudron, 40-23 in 10 innings). Bahcelievler defeated Deurne in the final: Tasdemir took the win against Jaspers in 13 innings, Coklu defeated De Bruijn with a big score, therefore the other matches could be stopped.
Six teams, of which five have qualified in the preliminaries, will compete in Istanbul this weekend in two groups for four places in the semi-finals.
The group formats and the players:
Group A:
Bahçelievler Belediye Spor Kulubu (Tr): Tayfun Tasdemir - Lütfi Cenet - Murat Naci Coklu - Adnan Yüksel.
Grondal BK (Den): Dion Nelin - Tonny Carlsen - Lars Dunch - Michael Lohse.
FC Porto (Por): Torbjörn Blomdahl - Dani Sanchez - Joao Ferreira - Rui Costa.
Group B:
Dallinga/AEJ (Neth): Frédéric Caudron - Dick Jaspers - Eddy Merckx - Jean-Paul de Bruijn.
Andernos (Fr): Filippos Kasidokostas - Roland Forthomme - Jerome Barbeillon - Francis Connesson
All games Alcamo (It): Michele Notarrigo - Emilio Sciacca - Francesco Orlando - Libero Picciano
The Dallinga team took the cup in Holland last weekend.
The opening ceremony is on Friday 29th of Mai at 15.00, the matches start at 15.30 with Group B and 18.00 with Group A.
On Saturday four sessions are played: 11.00, 13.30, 16.00 and 18.30.
The semi-finals on Sunday are at 10.00 and 12.00 uur, the final at 16.00.
Kozoom will broadcast all matches live for its Premium pass members.