ANKARA - The third Grand Prix, which is counting for the Turkish championship, is won by Tayfun Tasdemir, who beat Gökhan Salman in the final 40-38 in 20/19. The tournament was organized in the arena of the Turkish billiard federation in Ankara with 206 participants. With the victory, Tasdemir climbed to the first place on the Turkish ranking. The winner reached the final by beating Ömer Karakurt in the semi-final by 40-19 in 20/19. In the quarter finals Tasdemir won against Hakan Incekara 40-25 and in the round before against Emrullah Başeğmez 40-16.
Gökhan Salman, who played the final for the first time in his career in the Turkish championships and lost to Taşdemir by a small margin in the final match, beat Nejdet Yalçın in the semi-finals by 40-37 in 28/27 innings, in the quarter-finals he won against Tolgahan Kiraz by 40-33 in 29/28 innings.
Semih Saygıner, who won the World Cup in Egypt in recent weeks, disapperared from the tournament by losing to Ömer Karakurt in 20 innings 40-27 in the quarterfinals.
Berkay Karakurt, who became second after Can Çapak in the second Grand Prix, was beaten in the 16th final by Tolgahan Kiraz 40-35 in 28 innings. Murat Naci Colic, who finished second in the World Championship in Egypt last week, was defeated in the 16th 40-35 in 30/29 innings.
At the end of the 3rd leg, the top 20 of the Turkish ranking is:
1 Tayfun Tasdemir - 428 points - 1.928 - series 20
2 Lütfi Cenet - 374 - 1,662 - 13
3 Mehmet Blik Capak - 344 - 1.351 - 10
4 Ahmet Alp - 324 - 1.398 - 11
5 Yavuz Güngördü - 300 - 1,273 - 10
6 Berkay Karakurt - 290 - 1,577 - 21
7 Semih Sayginer - 272 - 1,923 - 22
8 Omer Karakurt - 272 - 1,801 - 12
9 Emrullah Başeğmez - 268 - 1.324 - 14
10 Gökhan Salman- 266 - 1,584 - 12
11 Turgay Orak - 258 - 1.442 - 11
12 Muhammet Çavuşoğlu - 256 - 1.322 - 11
13 Tolgahan Kiraz - 246- 1,392 - 13
14 Murat Naci Coclu - 242 - 1,732 - 12
15 Yılmaz Özcan - 228- 1.503 - 14
16 İsmail Yassin - 182 - 1.340 - 12
17 Necdet Yalçın - 182 - 1.245 - 8
18 Ahmet Kara - 174 - 1.226 - 13
19 Serkan Kahraman - 151 - 1,333 - 10
20 Muharrem Peker - 150 - 1.297 - 9
Tayfun Tasemir and Gökhan Salman, the final players. Gökhan played the first final match in his career