Bilal Ömer Çakır

Bilal Ömer Çakır (born January 2, 1990, in Tercan) is a Turkish curler from Erzurum. He is the coach of the Turkish National Women's Curling Team skipped by Dilşat Yıldız, who is also his mixed doubles partner.

Career

Men's

Çakır joined the Turkish national men's team for the 2013–14 season at the second position. At the 2013 European Curling Championships, the team led by Alican Karataş finished 3–4 through the round robin of the B Division. The following year, with Çakır now playing lead, the team improved on their performance by finishing 4–3.

After not playing on the team in 2015, Çakır returned to the national team at second for the 2016 European Curling Championships. There, the Turkish team finished 5–2 through the round robin, earning them a tiebreaker berth. They then lost 12–5 to Slovakia's Juraj Gallo and were eliminated. The following year, Uğurcan Karagöz took over as skip of the team with Çakır moving up to third. This earned the team their best result as they qualified for the playoffs directly with a 5–2 record. They then immediately lost in the quarterfinals 9–4 to Finland's Aku Kauste, finishing fifth overall in the B Division that year. Çakır has not played on the men's team since the 2017–18 season.

Mixed

Çakır has represented Turkey at two World Mixed Curling Championships. In 2015, he played second on the team with skip Alican Karataş, third Dilşat Yıldız and lead Semiha Konuksever. They finished fourth in their group with a 4–4 record, not enough to make the playoffs. Three years later, he returned throwing fourth stones on the team skipped by Öznur Polat with second Oğuzhan Karakurt and Konuksever at lead. This combination earned the team a 6–2 record through the round robin, enough to qualify for the playoffs. They then stole a victory against Denmark in the qualification game before dropping the quarterfinals to Russia, the eventual bronze medalists from the event.

Mixed doubles

For the 2022–23 season, Çakır was named to the Turkish mixed doubles national team with partner Dilşat Yıldız. As Turkey had been relegated the year before, the team had to finish in the top four at the 2022 World Mixed Doubles Qualification Event to qualify for the 2023 World Mixed Doubles Curling Championship. At the qualification event, the pair went 4–1 in the round robin to qualify for the double knockout playoff. They won 9–7 over New Zealand in the first round before losing to Austria 9–3 in the second. This put them in the final qualifier against Finland where they stole in both the seventh and eighth ends for a 6–5 win and a berth in the World Championship. At Worlds, Yıldız and Çakır finished sixth in their group with a 4–5 record, scoring wins over Austria, England, Germany and Spain.

Personal life

Çakır is employed as a teacher. He attended Atatürk University.

Teams

References

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Çakır, Bilal Ömer
1990 births
Living people
Turkish male curlers
Sportspeople from Erzurum
21st-century Turkish people
Atatürk University alumni