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== Super Mario Kart World Championships 2013 ==
== Super Mario Kart World Championships 2013 ==
Sami is due to attend the Super Mario Kart World Championship 2013 in France in August 2013. There are no official details set however or much news on how many of Team UK will attend. Rumour has it that his niece Leyla Hasso may return for her 2nd year there.
Sami attended the Super Mario Kart World Championship 2013 in the town of La Suze-sur-Sarthe near Le Mans in France between 20th - 25th August 2013. He was joined with 8 other members of Team UK including his niece [[Leyla Hasso]] who was on her 2nd visit there and performed exceptionally well reaching the Top 16 overall. There were 35 competitors in all and Sami placed 2nd on the overall Grand Ranking combining the 4 modes, narrowly losing to his main rival Florent Lecoanet whom he beat and won the title from in the previous year.
The Time Trial one try mode was tough this year but Sami performed generally well. He unfortunately had a small slip on Ghost Valley 2 in the Semi-Final but then in the sudden death 3rd Place Match he won on Bowser Castle 2 vs Matthias Boucher to get a Bronze Medal. The final was won by Guillaume Leviach who recently got the PAL Time Trial title.
Grand Prix 150cc was moved to be the 2nd mode for the first time. It started off a little rough for a number of competitors but the zoom starts later picked up. Sami had a tough Quarter Final vs Geoffrey Label winning 3-1 on cups then forced out a 4-0 Semi Final win vs Dutch Champion Karel van Duijvenboden with a number of green and red shells. The Final however was the most unexpected event, where Florent who had not been defeated in 7 years had a match to the end. Sami was two cups down then eventually 4-3 up and lost one more to make 4-4. The Final Special Cup went to the wire with Sami winning KB2, GV3 and driving dangerously on VL2. He only needed to place 2nd in Rainbow Road to win. Florent and Sami had a battle mode round literally on Rainbow Road, but Sami pulled through and continued on for the safe win, taking the Gold Medal on 150cc Grand Prix for the first time and ending Florent's 7 year reign there.
Battle Mode wasn't as successful this year for Sami, as he struggled in the group stage but managed to just about reach the Quarter Finals, but losing to Geoffrey Label 7-1 afterwards. Sami's team mate, Conor Wood reached a higher Quarter Final position thus holding the UK Battle Mode Title by points for the first time.
Match Race was traditionally one of Sami's favorite modes, and he won the group stage with flying colours. However he was on a path to face Florent Lecoanet in the Semi-Final again, like last year. Unfortunately the items that happened and some crashes didn't go completely in Sami's favour this time and he was defeated 9-6 by Florent, ending his 4 year Match Race reign. Florent went on to win the Final 11-7 vs Julien Holmiere, while Sami comfortably wins the 3rd Place Match 9-3 vs Geoffrey Label for another Bronze Medal.
Sami and his team also met a Japanese player this year, Takashi Ogasawara who holds the fastest 150cc Records of the World on NTSC. They all had some good races with him and hope that this will widen the community more. Sami finished his World Championship 2013 unveiling a new Mario Circuit 1 PAL Time Trial World Record which he will improve again soon.
Sami's prowess extends to the other kart games, and he is one of the best all-round Mario Kart players: currently ranking in 2nd in the [http://www.mariokart64.com/combinedranks/ Combined Mario Kart Rankings] after a brief period in 1st place. He was formerly world champion in [[Mario Kart 64]], where he had many impressive WRs and broke milestone barriers such as WS 3lap in which he got 3:39.99. He was also world champion of [[Mario Kart Super Circuit]] for the first few months of competition including taking many former World Records during a visit to Germany in early 2002 before retiring from Mario Kart Super Circuit. He has spent a bit of time on [[Mario Kart Double Dash]] and a little more on [[Mario Kart DS]]. He competed on Mario Kart DS becoming UK Champion during the start of 2007 but retired within a few months to make a return to Super Mario Kart.
Sami's prowess extends to the other kart games, and he is one of the best all-round Mario Kart players: currently ranking in 2nd in the [http://www.mariokart64.com/combinedranks/ Combined Mario Kart Rankings] after a brief period in 1st place. He was formerly world champion in [[Mario Kart 64]], where he had many impressive WRs and broke milestone barriers such as WS 3lap in which he got 3:39.99. He was also world champion of [[Mario Kart Super Circuit]] for the first few months of competition including taking many former World Records during a visit to Germany in early 2002 before retiring from Mario Kart Super Circuit. He has spent a bit of time on [[Mario Kart Double Dash]] and a little more on [[Mario Kart DS]]. He competed on Mario Kart DS becoming UK Champion during the start of 2007 but retired within a few months to make a return to Super Mario Kart.
== Personal Life ==
Sami likes to keep himself healthy and has never smoked in his life nor drank any alcohol. He has suffered from moderate asthma since childhood but keeping active with a training programme at the gym has helped to ease this a lot.
Sami is not marrried and has no children. However he has had 3 relationships in the past; his first one during College when he was 18 and another at University when he was 21. Following a 4 year gap he had one more long term relationship in his mid to late twenties. He has always looked back on these times with fond memories and thankful that they were a part of his life. Sami has been single since September 2012 and has no further plans for any future relationships at this time.