HACI ARAP YAMAN WINS THE GRAND PRIX IN HIS HOME COUNTRY
Haci Arap Yaman increases his international palmares with the victory of this Grand Prix in his homeland, in Izmir. He was European Champion Individual in Antalya in 2023 and bronze medal in Ankara in 2024, he was also European Champion for National Teams in the first two editions of this championship in 2023 and 2024.
Haci Arap Yaman and Bastien Panis (France) won their respective semifinal matches against the Belgians Steve Wilms and Erik Vervliet with strong performances, respectively 86,500 and 78,222. The two Belgian had to go home sharing an important and honorable third place.
The final was exciting: Yaman was leading from the beginning but only by very few points with Panis chasing extremely close. The gap increased slightly up to 10 points when only 7 figures were left. In the last 7 figures Yaman kept his pace and Panis could not catch him anymore.
All results here.
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IZMIR SEMIFINALS: TWO BELGIANS, ONE TURK AND ONE FRENCH WILL FIGHT FOR THE BEST SPOT ON THE PODIUM.
Today's sessions were dedicated to the first two steps of the knock-out final phase of the Grand Prix Artistic in Izmir.
Two rounds of last 16 took place in the first half of the day thus reducing the competitors to 8. Only 3 French, 2 Belgian, 2 Turks and 1 Dutch survided so far. In the afternoon the quarters final took place in two more rounds; on the first round 2 of the French had to face each other: Bastien Panis played Michael Hammen and won by 1 point. At the same time the other table the Belgian Erik Vervliet outplayed the Dutch Erik Vijverberg. The first semifinal was therefore decided: Panis vs Vervliet.
In the second round the Turk Haci Arap Yaman defeated the French Olivier Lacroix while Steve Wilms (Belgium) eliminated Serdar Gumus (Turkiye) thus deciding the second semifinal: Yaman vs Wilms.
Semifinals are planned tomorrow at 10:00 local time. the final will follow at 14:00 local time.
Full info here.
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THE LAST 16 ARE DECIDED IN THE ARTISTIC GRAND PRIX OF IZMIR
After two full days and 70 figures played by all the participants the final qualification ranking is now completed. The top 16 gained a spot in the KO round that will start tomorrow morning in two sessions, at 11.00 and 13.00, local time.
The provisional leader is the French Michael Hammen with 373 points, currently number one in the CEB Artistic ranking. He took the lead around halfway and keep it until the end. Runner up is the reigning European Champion and number two in the CEB ranking, Baris Cin from Turkiye, with 352 points. Third with 329 points is the former European Champion, Haci Arap Yaman also from Turkiye, currently number 4 in the CEB ranking.
Last 16 matches are therefore clear. Tomorrow we will be able to witness the last 16 followed in the afternoon by the quarters final.
Semifinals and final will be played on Sunday.
Full details here.
Watch it on Kozoom and Kozoom Youtube Channel.
THE GRAND PRIX ARTISTIC ARE BACK ON THE SCENE IN IZMIR (TURKIYE)
The Turkish Billiards Federation arena in the city of Izmir is ready to host the CEB Grand Prix Artistic. The last time this competition took place was in 2022 in Rosmalen (Netherlands) and Mannheim (Germany). Now, thanks to the impulse of the CEB and the collaboration of the TBF, a new Grand Prix is at the starting blocks. It will be a good training for the European Championships of Artistic Billiard planned in Florange (France) in two months. In the meanwhile one more Grand Prix Artistic is already in the CEB calendar (Vienna, September 2025) and another one will be announced soon for the next sport season.
32 of the best European specialists of this spectacular discipline are gathering in the Turkish city of Izmir for a 4 days competitions, from Thursday 23rd to Sunday 26th. Players training is already underway. First two days are reserved to the qualification sessions; the participants are divided in 8 groups of 4 and all of them will play 70 figures to establish the best 16 points scorer who will advance to the main tournament played in a knock-out format. The KO rounds are planned on Saturday and Sunday.
The competition is played on Simonis cloth with Aramith billiard balls.
Find out more info here.
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