ANTALYA - The 31-year-old Can Capak has taken the first ranking tournament in his country which was held in the Side Sueno hotel in Antalya. In the final match, Capak showed himself superior against Semih Saygıner 40-25 in 15 innings. With his victory in Antalya, the Turk prolonged his last year's victory in this tournament, when het defeated Lütfi Cenet in the final 40-21.
Can Capak is gradually developing into one of the best players in his country after a few years without offiial tournaments, following disagreements with the Turkish federation. He already showed his high class in last year's ranking tournament in Antalya with a run of twenty against Tayfun Tasdemir and a great shoot-out in the semi-final against Tolgahan Kiraz, where he started with eight.
The tournament in Antalya attracted many players to show up: 1172 players were registered and played as of 1th of March at 20 tables for the preliminary rounds. In the last 32, from the known players only Lütfi Cenet, Adnan Yüksel and Birol Uymaz were missing. Murat Naci Coklu was eliminated in the quarters by Hakan Incekara 40-30 in 25. Can Capak defeated Omer Karakurt in that session 40-15 in 29 and Ahmet Alp outplayed Emrullah Basegmez 40-34 in 30.
In the quarterfinals, Semih Saygıner made the best impression beating Savas Bulut (40-28 in 16), Hakan Incekara was too strong for Gökhan Salman (40-19 in 19) Can Capak bested Ahmet Alp 40-35 in 27 and Tolgahan Kiraz took his place in the semi-final against Ismail Yasin, 40-25 in 32.
Semih Saygıner and Can Capak emerged as winners of the semi-finals against Hakan Incekara (40-37 in 22) and Tolgahan Kiraz (40-34 in 24). In the final Can Capak was awesom and on his very best to pull off a great result (40-25 in 15). Only Savas Bulut also played a match in 15 innings in this tournament against Yilmaz Özcan: 40-22.
After the victory, Can Capak tops the list for this year so far. The tournament in Antalya was the first ranking tournament, three more are coming up.