ATHENS – Young Greek billiards player Dimitris Seleventas was the victim of a bizarre incident at Istanbul airport after the World Cup in Ankara. Before leaving for Athens, after a wonderful World Cup in Turkey, Seleventas had to hand over his case with his expensive billiards cue at customs control. The cue (worth 5,000 euros) was confiscated and was not allowed on the plane. The incident escalated to such an extent that Seleventas was ultimately threatened with having to stay in Istanbul. The billiard cue was thrown into a rubbish container in front of him. The Greek player, who suffered two panic attacks, left for Athens without his equipment. He will probably never see the billiard cue again.
Dimitris Seleventas, who was once European champion under 17 and second in a world championship for juniors, is a very talented billiard player. In the World Cup in Athens, he achieved the best result of his career so far. Seleventas survived two preliminary rounds, emerged victorious from a group with Caudron and Soumagne, and lost to Sidhom in the last 16.
The joy after his magnificent performance was over shadowed the next day by the incident at the airport. After returning home to Athens, he told us: "I feel very wronged and was treated incredibly badly at the airport. The security manager insisted that I had to hand in my billiards cue there. They didn't listen to my story that I had played in a World Cup in Ankara and that our billiard cues are always allowed on the plane. But he refused everything, didn't want to call the police and eventually threw the billiard case with my cue in a rubbish bin, as if it was a bottle of water."
"We are professional billiard players with our own cues. We can't just switch to another cue. So that means I've lost my cue (brand IQ, made in Greece). We're playing a World Cup in Porto in just over a week. Of course, we're going to protest. The Greek billiard federation is behind me, and we've called in the world federation. But I fear that the cue has been thrown away with the rubbish and that I will never get it back."
The anger over the lost cue still haunts Seleventas. He says: "I showed respect for the manager, I politely told my story, I have flown from Turkey many, many times, and I have never experienced this before. At one point, I even offered to pay some money to take the cue on board. He laughed at me, spoke very aggressively and said that there was a camera and that he was not allowed to accept money. I was also sent to the desk of the airline I was flying with, but they didn't want to have anything to do with it. So the manager said: we have offered you a solution. He refused to cooperate any further. Then he threw the case and the cue into the rubbish bin in front of me."
It feels as if his property has been stolen, but the Greek feels severely wronged. ’’I have to play in the World Cup in Porto and I no longer have my cue. I'm still happy with the World Cup I played, but the fact that I went through so much shit and had two panic attacks makes me forget the result of the tournament. People around me don't talk about the great achievement, they just ask if I got my cue back yet.
Seleventas survived one qualifying round in Ankara with David Pennör and Joey de Kok, the next day with Frédéric Caudron and Pierre Soumagne, and won in the main draw in the group of four with 1.947 on average ahead of Thanh Luc Tran, Berkay Karakurt and Turgay Orak. In the top 16, Seleventas lost to Sidhom 50-41.
Dimitris Seleventas playing an excellent World Cup in Ankara with the cue he had to leave at the airport
Dimitris Seleventss' case and cue were thrown into the garbage (middle)