The Belgian team competition starts next Monday 5 and Tuesday 6 September with a quality injection and had some remarkable transfers. The most striking is the transfer of Eddy Merckx, who has left Biljart Express and is the leader of BC Den Eik now. Frans van Kuyk is the new leading player of Biljart Express. Jean Paul de Bruijn is the captain of the Billiard Promotion Team foursome, Jef Philipoom replaces Peter De Backer at Op de Meir, the reigning champion and Pierre Soumagne and/or Robinson Morales lead the team of BC De Leug.
The other well-known Belgian leaders in the team league include Roland Forthomme, Peter Ceulemans, Ronny Brants and Steven van Acker, in a 12-team competition, of which Billiard Promotion Team and Mr. 100 2 are the two new teams. Herstalien replaces Zanzibar. The most mentioned contenders in advance are Op de Meir (Jef Philipoom), Mr. 100 (Peter Ceulemans), BC Den Eik (Eddy Merckx), Herstalien (Roland Forthomme), De Leug (Pierre Soumagne) and Biljart Express (Frans van Kuyk).
Eddy Merckx received a nice offer from BC Den Eik: ''I was ready for a new team'', assures the best ranked Belgian in the UMB rankings. Merckx has reserved 12 matches in his schedule for BC Den Eik, in the Netherlands he will play 14 times for SIS Schoonmaak and furthermore Merckx has a packed calendar with matches for the teams of Varde in Denmark, for which he will play in the European Cup, Velbert in Germany, Castella in Spain and Soissons in France.
Jef Philipoom returns to the top division as yhr head man of Op de Meir, where he plays with Barry van Beers, Roland Uijtdewillegen, Ivan Stitschinski and where Eddy Leppens will be the stand in leader in the periods that he is in Belgium. Jef Philipoom sees a new challenge: ''We are facing an open competition'', he expects just like his team boss Marc Verhaegen. Philipoom: ''I will go for it in, see what we still can achieve.''Milenca, hier zijn de vragen voor het interview (je mag zo lang antwoorden als je zelf wil hoor)
Biljartclub De Leug had to make a couple of remarkable decisions in the run-up to the new competition. Johan Loncelle, one of the best Belgian players, will play for De Leug 3 and Jeffrey Jorissen, the Dutchman, plays for De Leug 2. The first team consists of Pierre Soumagne, Wesley de Jaeger, Huub Wilkowski and Kenny Miatton and when Colombian Robinson Morales is in Europe, he will occasionally play for De Leug 1.
Mik Durwael, who is sports director and in charge of the line-ups at De Leug, does not want to go into detail about the decisions that have been taken. He says about Johan Loncelle's line-up in the third team: ''The noses were not in the same direction in the first team. I don't want to further comment on it.''
Wesley de Jaeger: ''We have a different opinion and mentality among some players: we have more or less chosen for a friendly atmosphere, like in the Netherlands with Cues&Darts. The decision about the composition was made by the club and with the approval of the sponsors. I myself, as the team leader, has taken the final decision.''
As for Jeffrey Jorissen in the second team, Mik Durwael explains: ''We want a strong team to promote to the highest league. And we found that with Jeffrey, Therese Klompenhouwer, Andy de Bondt and myself as fourth man.''
Mr. 100 Lier plays with two teams in the highest class now. Mr. 100 1 plays in the same line-up as last year with Peter, Kurt and Bart Ceulemans and Jerry Hermans. The second team has a line-up with Paul Bruijstens, Marc Celen, Leslie van Neyen and Erwin Hens.
De Witte Molen has the German Tom Löwe as its leader, Koninklijke Brugse is led by Steven van Acker and Koninklijke Kortrijk by Ronny Brants. Kay de Zwart is the leader in TBA Biljart Palace.
The two Mister 100 teams meet each other already next Wednesday in the first competition round. Eddy Merckx travels with BC Den Eik to Biljart Express for the match against his former team.
The first matches next week:
Monday 5 September:
Kon Kortrijk-Herstalien
Biljart Express-BC Den Eik
Kon Brugse-Billiard Promotion Team
Tuesday 6 September:
Biljartpalace-De Witte Molen
Op de Meir-BC De Leug
Wednesday 7 September:
Mister 100 2-Mister 100 1.
The team compositions:
BC Op de Meir
Jef Philipoom
Barry van Beers
Roland Uijtdewillegen
Ivan Stitschinsky
Eddy Leppens
Mr. 100 Lier 1
Peter Ceulemans
Kurt Ceulemans
Jerry Hermans
Bart Ceulemans
Mr. 100 Lier 2
Paul Bruijstens
Marc Celen
Leslie van Neyen
Erwin Hens
Billiard Express
Frans van Kuyk
Gerwin Valentine
Martin Spoormans
Guy van Litsenborg
BC Den Eik
Eddy Merckx
Jean van Erp
Davy van Havere
Richard Bitalis
Ludo Dielis
Jef Gijsels
DBC De Leug
Robinson Morales
Pierre Soumagne
Wesley de Jaeger
Huub Wilkowski
Kenny Miatton
Kon. Kortrijkse
Ronny Brants
Martin Ravestyn
Philippe Vandendriessche
Fréderic Roalandts
Frédéric Beghin
BC De Witte Molen
Tom Löwe
Francis Forton
Dirk Weeremans
Ad Broeders
Kon. Brugse
Steven van Acker
Henk Blauwblomme
Bart Leys
Koen Saver
BC Herstalien
Roland Forthomme
Fréderic Mottet
Dany Boutet
Paul Wallerand
Billiard Promotion Team
Jean Paul de Bruijn
Frédéric Caudron
Danny Geysen
Marc Janssen
Peter Meersman
TBA Biljart Palace
Kay de Zwart
Frank Martens
Ronny Daniels
Erik Hendrickx
Wesley de Jaeger, in charge of the line-up for De Leug
Jef Philipoom returns to the top league in Belgium