Haci Arap Yaman is the World Champion

Ankara, June 22, 2024.

The second consecutive edition held in Ankara of the World Artistic Billiards Championship has closed with the unappealable victory of the Turkish player Haci Arap Yaman, escorted by the Turkish players Baris Cin who obtained the silver medal and Serdar Gumus, only the Spanish player Hector Cuadrado was able to resist Turkish hegemony, reaching the podium with the bronze medal.

Today, the knockout phase of the World Championships Artistic ran right up to the climax, via the semi-finals to the final!

The semifinals saw 2 Spaniard and 3 Turks! The semifinal between CUADRADO (ES) and YAMAN (TR) was very emotional for the Turkish fans, because if CUADRADO were eliminated the new World Champion will be for sure a Turkish player. And it ran exactly this way! CUADRADO started a bit weak and YAMAN very strong, so after just a couple of figures a clear gap was in place. Then both players played on their fine level, but CUADRADO could not close the gap. Winner YAMAN!

The semifinals between GÜMÜS (ES) and CIN (TR) started also with a big gap of 30 points in favor of CIN. The reason was CIN’s level of far over 80%. But GÜMÜS, a former World Champion, is an experienced and tough fighter and he kept on going with raising average. But in the end on this day CIN was too strong with 77,16%.

So, the final between YAMAN and CIN had to clarify, who is the World Champion 2024. And YAMAN started with unbelievable 102 points without any miss = 100%. CIN did his best and this was over 60% and in the middle of the match he reduced the huge gap to a makeable distance. But in the end YAMAN was too strong in this match and the name of the new champion is YAMAN Haci Arap! CIN Baris is a brilliant runner up and played a remarkable tournament.

In the end the audience applauded to the new World Champion and the podium and to the by far strongest nation in this event, Turkiye!

It was a wonderful tournament, supported by the performance and hospitality of the Turkish Billiard Association, with the best artistic players and a wonderful arena. Next time you must come and see!

UMB.