VIERSEN - The Turkish hat-trick at the World’s nations team championship was celebrated abundantly this Sunday afternoon in a German playing hall mostly filled with Turkish fans. Tayfun Tasdemir, the reigning world champion, and Semih Sayginer, the Turkish champion, beat Swedish tandem Torbjörn Blomdahl and Michael Nilsson in the final at the world championship with a performance of high class. Sayginer won against Blomdahl 40-29 in 13 innings (3.076), Tasdemir beat Nilsson 40-29 in 17 innings (2.352). The fantastic Turkish success did not come out of the blue. It was the third victory in a row at at this Nations Championship, after the Turks also recently scored high individually with Tayfun Tasdemir's world title in Donghae City, Korea, and Tasdemir's World Cup victory in Las Vegas.
The Turkish flag and anthem, which brings the Turkish people so close together in these tough times, brought deep emotions to the German arena and to the two winners. Tasdemir and Sayginer fell into each other's arms after the final match, balling fists and fighting back tears of joy. The Turks deserved the global success as no other country. Tayfun Tasdemir has been in the best form of his life for months and emerged as a true come-back kid at the end of this event by turning lost matches into wins. Semih Sayginer rose to great heights on the final day of the championship. In the semi-final he first beat Dick Jaspers 40-30 in 24 innings, in the final, Sayginer passed Torbjörn Blomdahl with runs of 10, 7 and 6 to a final score 40-29 in 13 innings (3.076 on average). Tayfun Tasdemir fought back against Michael Nilsson from 24-14 behind to 30-25 after a 14 run and won with a final 8 run, 40-29 in 17 innings.
The champions and the other three best teams on the honorary podium (Sweden, the Netherlands and Spain) had to deal with the tributes and trophies. Farouk Barki, the world federation president, apologised at the ceremony for not bringing the gold, silver and bronze medals from the last UMB World Cup in Las Vegas.
Tayfun and Semih, emotions showing the Turkish flag
Turkish joy after the final, winning point
The final podium with the Turkish winners on top
The eight final players in the arena
The preliminary stage to the finals already showed wonderful matches and a lot of excitement.
The first clash in the semi-finals between Turkey and the Netherlands was decided in the final match between Tayfun Tasdemir and Jean Paul de Bruijn, when Dick Jaspers, not on his best in this match, had lost to Semih Sayginer. The Turkish champion was the better of the Dutch champion 40-30 in 24, in which Jaspers could not score his regular high runs. The highest was 6, for Sayginer 7.
Jean Paul de Bruijn had to defend the Dutch chances and had Tayfun Tasdemir under control for a long time: the Dutchman started 8-0, then ran out to 27-16, still led 32-26, but could not parry Tasdemir's attack in that last part. The Turk was still behind 33-30, but then finished with 6 and 4 in two innings. De Bruijn made one more extreme attempt: he attacked with a run of six from 33-36 to 39-36, but then saw Tayfun finish with his final run of four: 40-39 in 26. Sayginer was the best in average: 1.666, ahead of Tasdemir 1.538, De Bruijn 1.500 and Jaspers 1.250.
For Sweden, Michael Nilsson repeated in the semi-final against Spain the master piece he has been showing for the entire tournament. The Swedish colossus did not lose a match so far and had to save his team in the battle with the Spaniards. Dani Sánchez was master over Torbjörn Blomdahl with 40-30 in 25 innings, but Nilsson was the rock-solid buoy where his leading man could count on again. The Swede made the gap against Ruben Legazpi with a run of 12 in the 9th innings (25-12) and closed in the 20th innings, before Legazpi could score seven more times in the equalizing inning: 40-29.
The Spaniards had the best start in the Scotch Double with a 5-0 lead. Then, things were levelling between the two teams until 8-7 for Sweden, which ran out to 13-7 and after four innings without scoring, crossed the finish line with: 15-7.
The World’s for nation teams went to its first shake-up in the knock-outs (quarter-finals) with a spectacular battle between the Netherlands and South Korea. Dick Jaspers was beaten by Haeng Jik Kim 40-38, but Jean Paul de Bruijn saved his team winning against Jung Han Heo 40-36 in 20. In the Scotch Double, the Netherlands led 6-0, the Koreans came back to 6-6, but in the final the Netherlands were the better 15-12.
The Turks drew against Greece with a win by Nikos Polychronopoulos against Semih Sayginer (40-22 in 18) and Tayfun Tasdemir's equaliser against Kostas Antonatos (40-27 in 25). The Scotch Double had to bring the decision: the Turks went from 4-7 behind with a run of 8 to 12-7 and won 15-7.
For Spain, Dani Sánchez won the match with Quyet Chien Tran in the quarter finals and Ruben Legazpi gave the Vietnamese the knockout with an equalizer of 4 against Duc Anh Chien Nguyen. The Swedes beat Mexico mainly because Torbjörn Blomdahl was phenomenal against Christian Hernandez (40-17 in 11, run 15) and Michael Nilsson defeated Javier Vera 40-27 in 19.
Semih;s tears after the final match
Tayfun Tasdemir, the come-back kid on the final days
Torbjörn Blomdahl, the Swedish captain
Michael Nilsson, Sweden, unbeaten until the final match with Tasdemir
The results in the preliminary rounds with four groups of four were:
Group A:
The Turks win two matches and only draw against Greece. The Americans finish like the Greeks with 3 match points, but go second to the knock-out rounds. The Turks with 1.846 on average and runs of 16 and 11, the Americans with 0.940.
Group B:
Haeng Jik Kim and Jung Han Heo did not have a best start against Mexico (2-0 loss), but recovered with wins over the Germans and Egypt. By surprise, Mexico finish in second place with 4 match points. The Germans miss qualification by losing against South Korea in the last match. Korea finish with 1,477 ahead of Mexico with 1,440.
Group C:
The Netherlands and Spain qualify, the Spaniards with 5 match points, the Netherlands with 4 points as they draw against Spain and France. Dick Jaspers shows one of the highlights of this World’s when he scores a 20 run in his match against Dani Sánchez. The Spanish are the best in average: 1,520. For Jordan, Mashhour Abu Tayeh makes a remarkable 14 run in his match against Mikael Devogelaere.
Group D:
Top favorites Sweden and Vietnam qualified among the best eight, but have a feared opponent in this group with the Belgians. Peter De Backer beat both Torbjörn Blomdahl and Quyet Chien Tran, the Belgians eventually finished equal with Vietnam in match points. Wesley de Jaeger, Belgium's runner-up, misses out on qualification as he goes through the clock against Nguyen in the second last inning. Sweden qualify with five points and 1.484. Quyet Chien Tran shines with runs of 17 and 15.
Dick Jaspers (Netherlands), two losses on the final day
Dani Sánchez, Spain
Ruben Legazpi, Spain
Jean Paul de Bruijn, the best in the Dutch team on the final day