ANKARA - Young Turkish player Burak Hashas, who’s making great progress on the global stage and was the world champion in Heerhugowaard last year, defends his world title today, Friday, and tomorrow. Playing in front of his own crowd, he is again the big favorite with main competitors Denizcan Akkoca and Abdullah Kayah, also from Turkey, Dimitrios Seleventas from Greece, Lukas Mortensen from Denmark, Amir Ibraimov from Germany, Nathan Duriez from France and Ye Sung Jeong from Korea.
The championship is played with 24 players divided into eight groups of three players to 25 caroms in the preliminary rounds. The knockouts with 16 players are to 30 caroms.
The Turkish delegation of players includes five youngsters, who will undoubtedly claim a leading role. From the other countries in the world, Korea, Egypt, Spain have two participants in the field of 24.
The World championship in the Turkish federation arena starts at 11am on Friday, in Western Europe at 10am.
The first matches are:
Group A: Nick Rosier-Mohamed Khaled
Group B: Amir Ibraimov-Ubaldo Sanchez
Group C: Goncalo Santos-Hakan Gorguc
Group D: Nikolaus Kogelbauer-Joris van 't Zelfden.
All matches will be broadcast live via YouTube on AfreecaTV
The group formats:
Group A: Burak Hashas (Turkey), Mohamd Khaled (Egypt), Nick Rosier (Belgium)
Group B: Denizcan Akkoca (Turkey), Amir Ibraimov (Germany), Ubaldo Sanchez (Mexico)
Group C: Jimm Limones (Ecuador), Goncalo Santos (Portugal), Hakan Gorguc (Turkey)
Group D: Ye Sung Jeong (Korea), Nikolaus Kogelbauer (Austria), Joris van 't Zelfden (Netherlands)
Group E: Badr Tabak (Egypt), Marcos Morales (Spain), Daniel Sainz Pardo (Spain)
Group F: Abdullah Kaya (Turkey), Valentino Oliveto (Argentina), Lukas Mortensen (Denmark)
Group G: Mathias Moscoso (Peru), Ruuto Kimura (Japan), Nathan Duriez (France)
Group H: Myeong Guy Oh (Korea), Dimitrios Seleventas (Greece), Alptekin Canozkan (Turkey)