ANKARA - The Turkish federation's TBF complex welcomes two major European events this week. The kick off is on Tuesday 8 April with the nations event over two days with Germans Martin Horn and Ronny Lindemann as defending champions. After these two days, Europe's top players prepare for the individual championship, in which Torbjörn Blomdahl defends his title. The nations championship with two players per country will be played with preliminary rounds in eight groups of three players, with only the group winners qualifying for the quarter-finals. Defending champion Germany is with Norway and Spain 2 in the group. The Dutch are among the big contenders with top team Dick Jaspers and Jean Paul de Bruijn, who captured the world title in Viersen in the final against Vietnam. The Netherlands play in the group stage with the Czech Republic and Belgium 2.
Two home teams of the Turks have notable line-ups. The second team has drafted Tayfun Tasdemir and Berkay Karakurt, who play against Spain 1 and Finland in the preliminary rounds. Other favorites for the title are Belgium with Eddy Merckx and Peter Ceulemans, Spain with Ruben Legazpi and Sergio Jimenez, Greece with Nick Polychronopoulos and Kostas Kokkoris.
Schedule: 8 groups of 3, only winners to quarter-finals.
Preliminaries Tuesday 8 April, Wednesday 9 April: quarter-finals 9.30am, semi-finals 1pm, finals 5pm.
The teams:
Germany: Martin Horn, Ronny Lindemann
Turkey 1: Yilmaz Özcan, Ufuk Kapisuz
Spain 1: Ruben Legazpi, Sergio Jimenez
Netherlands 1: Dick Jaspers, Jean Paul de Bruijn
Belgium 1: Eddy Merckx, Peter Ceulemans
France 1: Jérémy Bury, Mikaël Devogelaere
Sweden 1: Torbjörn Blomdahl, David Pennör
Greece 1: Nick Polychronopoulos, Kostas Kokkoris
Denmark 1: Brian Knudsen, Thomas Andersen
Italy: Emilio Sciacca, Francesco Orlando
Portugal: Manuel Rui Costa, Jose Miguel Soares
Austria: Arnim Kahofer, Karl Makik
Czech Republic: Radek Novak, Martin Bohac
Switzerland: Kenan Canturk, Cetin Behzat
Finland: Sauli Solhagen, Timo Hjort
Norway: Sebastian Meling, Jo Björnstadt.
Germany 2: Tom Löwe, Amir Ibraimov
Turkey 2: Tayfun Tasdemir, Berkay Karakurt
Spain 2: Carlos Anguita, Carlos Crespo
Netherlands 2: Jean van Erp, Barry van Beers
Belgium 2: Roland Forthomme, Thomas Broux
France 2: Maxime Panaia, Adrien Tachoire
Sweden 2: Nalle Olsson, Ratcha Alievski
Greece 2: Dimitrios Seleventas, Kostas Papakonstantinou
The groups:
Group A: Germany 1, Norway, Spain 2
Group B: Spain 1, Finland, Turkey 2
Group C: Turkey 1, Switzerland, Netherlands 2
Group D: Netherlands 1, Czech Republic, Belgium 2
Group E: Belgium 1, Austria, Germany 2
Group F: France, Portugal, Sweden 1
Group G: Sweden 1, Italy, Greece 2
Group H: Greece 1, Denmark, France 2.
Winner takes €4,000, 2nd €2,500, 3rd €1,200, 5-8 €600.