ZUNDERT - It was all about the leading position in the Dutch premier league today, but in the end only one winner stood up with a generous score. The Babbelz team faced Zundert in the home match and grabbed the maximum 8-0 victory. The Brabant team with Dion Nelin, Savas Bulut, Ronny Lindemann and Jack Wijnen, playing without Frédéric Caudron in this top affair, leads the table after three rounds with five match points followed by three teams with one match point less. Best man in this round was Raymund Swertz (SIS) with 40 in 13 followed by Glenn Hofman (40 in 15) and Dick Jaspers, who beat Grand Prix winner Jean Paul de Bruijn 40-19 in 17.
Raymund Swertz did not play his best Grand Prix this week, but was suddenly able to demonstrate his class in the third round of the premier league. The match against Paul Bruijstens was a solo tour: Swertz attacked with a 9 run just after the break, after being on 23 in 10 innings. ‘’I only needed three innings for the last 17, so it was a quick finish,‘’ Swertz commented. He stayed well ahead of his opponent 40-14 in 13, 3.076 on average. ‘’I actually felt‘’, Swertz noted, ‘’that I didn't play that bad in the Grand Prix either, but there I was just well beaten twice.‘’ For Swertz, 40 in 13 is the best match in his career so far. He also did it last year in the competition.
The other match in this round, which looked like a revenge, was Dick Jaspers' against Jean Paul de Bruijn. Jaspers, eliminated in the Grand Prix by Sam van Etten, did not grant the proud GP winner half the caroms one day later: 40-19 in 17: 2.352 average. Also notable was Glenn Hofman's generous score in his match with Roland Forthomme (40-18 in 15), in which Cues&Darts grabbed the win and started the climb up. De Biljartacademie, where the Grand Prix was played last week, remains in the lower regions after the 2-6 score. J&F Auto's still has 0 points after three rounds, De Biljartacademie 1 and Dallinga 2 points.
Babbelz has made a promising start in the premier league and is already among the contenders for a top spot. Team captain Inge Verweijmeren showed herself super happy. ‘’We are in the third half now, enjoying the success,‘’ she said in the early evening after the superior 8-0 victory over Zundert. Team Babbelz is a new name, replacing DKM Tools, which has moved to a different location and is now called Team Babbelz. Inge: ’’We added some players to the regular team: Frédéric Caudron, Berkay Karakurt and Savas Bulut and I choose the line-up for each match. How many times Fred Caudron, for example, will play, I know, but I prefer not to say. We are looking at it from week to week and we really don’t want to say now that we are among the top teams. It is still far away. We just made a nice start and are especially happy with that 8-0 win overZundert.‘’
Team Eekhoorn is following in the footsteps of the current leaders after the 4-4 score in the away match against Aartsbouw. Frans van Kuyk was the best winner in that match with 40-29 in 21 against Allan Schröder. On centercourt, Eddy Merckx won vs Nick Polychronopoulos 40-32 in 28, Peter Ceulemans beat Ronny Brants 40-31 in 27.
Paperclip and SIS make the climb up and share the positions below the top. Paperclip was superior vs Dallinga, partly due to Dick Jaspers' big win over Jean Paul de Bruijn. Anno de Kleine beat Steven van Acker, Dan Breur won vs Peter De Backer. Peter van Lieshout won by 1 carom vs Berry Dallinga.
SIS/Vervoort took the match points away from The Hague, where it beat J&F Auto's 6-2 thanks to Swertz's superb win, Burgman's victory over De Zwart and Van der Spoel's win over Van Daalen. Only Jean van Erp, good for high average in the Grand Prix, lost to Murat Gökmen in a mediocre match: 40-36 in 39.
Cues&Darts approached the sub-top by the 6-2 win in Limburg against De Biljartacademie, where Glenn Hofman was a proud front-runner and Huub Wilkowski (40 in 33) and Therese Klompenhouwer (40 in 27) were the other winners for the team. Frédéric Mottet was the only, outstanding winner for De Biljartacademie against Jef Philipoom: 40-26 in 19. And finally, RCN Nieuwegein and Bousema played a draw against each other with Barry van Beers against Johan Loncelle as the best winner: 40-29 in 22. Jeffrey Jorissen beat Dave Christiani 40-36 in 32.
The Babbelz team in his full line-up
The standings after 3 rounds:
- Babbelz 5
- Paperclip 4
- Team Eekhoorn 4
- SIS/Vervoort 4
- STZ Zundert 4
- Cues&Darts 3
- RCN Nieuwegein 3
- Bousema 3
- Aartsbouw 3
- Dallinga 2
- De Biljartacademie 2
- J&F Auto’s 0