VIERSEN – The Turkish team for the World Championship for national teams with Tayfun Tasdemir and Semih Sayginer wants to make a bid for the third Turkish victory in a row. The world champion (Tasdemir) and Turkish champion (Sayginer) are top favorites in the field of 16 country teams, which will get the starting signal for the four-day event, played for the 35th time, at the Festhalle in Viersen this Thursday (9 March). Tayfun Tasdemir showed his top form in the Las Vegas World Cup last weekend with a victory in the final over Korean Haeng Jik Kim. Turkish champion Semih Sayginer did not play his best tournament there. ''I had a terrible jet lag,'' Semih apologised.
Haeng Jik Kim, the losing finalist in Las Vegas, and Jung Han Heo are certainly big contenders as well with South Korea for the World’s win. The Dutch come to Viersen with Dick Jaspers and Jean Paul de Bruijn, the Spanish with Dani Sánchez and Ruben Legazpi, the Swedes with Torbjörn Blomdahl and Michael Nilsson and the Vietnamese with Quyet Chien Tran and Duc Anh Chien Nguyen.
Semih Sayginer: ,,We feel delighted to play for our country with this strong team. Tayfun is in the winning mood, I will try my very best. We are looking for a nice battle with the strong and best teams in the world. It would be the first time for a nation to win for the third time in a row. I last played with Tayfun in 2004, 19 years ago. We know each other for a long time, which is an advantage. We feel very comfortable together.''
The Turkish champion speaks of an extra motivation after the earthquake tragedy in his country. ''It doesn't put any special pressure, but it is very important for Turkey that in these tough period, in any sporting discipline, we can show ourselves as the best in the world.'' Turkey's defending champion is seeded with Japan, Greece and USA in the preliminary rounds.
The Germans, always strong at home, put in Martin Horn with Cengiz Karaca, because Ronny Lindemann is missing due to a suspension. Playing for Belgium is not national champion Eddy Merckx, but two players who were 1st and 2nd at the previous Belgian championships: Peter De Backer and Wesley de Jaeger.
The Koreans (Haeng Jik Kim, Jung Han Heo) meet Germany, Egypt and Mexico in the preliminary rounds. Two contenders, the Netherlands and Spain, play in the group with France (without Jérémy Bury) and Jordan. And Swedish record holders Torbjörn Blomdahl and Michael Nilsson meet Vietnam, Belgium and Austria in their group.
The Turkish team with young Semih Sayginer and Tayfun Tasdemir in Viersen, 2004
Jean Paul de Bruijn and Dick Jaspers playing for the Netherlands
The Belgians will show up with Peter De Backer and Wesley de Jaeger
The team compositions:
Turkey: Semih Sayginer, Tayfun Tasdemir
Netherlands: Dick Jaspers, Jean Paul de Bruijn
Sweden: Torbjörn Blomdahl, Michael Nilsson
Spain: Dani Sánchez, Ruben Legazpi
South Korea: Haeng Jik Kim, Jung Han Heo
Vietnam: Quyet Chien Tran, Duc Anh Chien Nguyen
Belgium: Peter De Backer, Wesley de Jaeger
Germany: Martin Horn, Cengiz Karaca
Greece: Nikos Polychronopoulos, Kostas Antonatos
Egypt: Sameh Sidhom, Riad Nady
Austria: Arnim Kahofer, Claus Maurer
France: Mikael Devogelaere, Jérôme Barbeillon
USA: Hugo Patino, Carlos Mario Villegas
Mexico: Christian Hernandez, Javier Vera
Japan: Ryuuji Umeda, Takao Miyashita
Jordan: Mashhour Abu Tayeh, Naser Awwad.
First matches for Thursday at the Festhalle:
12.00:
Sweden-Belgium
Vietnam-Austria
14.00:
Netherlands-Jordan
Spain-France
16.00:
South Korea-Mexico
Germany-Egypt
18.00:
Turkey-USA
Japan-Greece.
Second and final session starts with matches at 20.00 (winners and losers of the Group with |Belgium, Sweden, Austria and Vietnam).
Continuation of the schedule on Friday at 11am.
Quarter-finals Saturday 11 March from 5pm.
Semi-finals Sunday 12 March at 10am and 12.30pm. Final Sunday at 4pm.
Pictures Ton Smilde, Dirk Acx