He played for Cues&Darts twice last year and will be the team's captain again this Sunday. Torbjörn Blomdahl is joining the team to strengthen the attack on the top spot in the eredivisie. Aartsbouw is still the leader, but the margin has narrowed. This Sunday, Blomdahl and Hofman must prevent two strong Dutch players, Dave Christiani and Gerwin Valentijn, from scoring in Cues&Darts' away match against RCN Nieuwegein. "I will play two matches again fort he team this year," says Blomdahl, who, like other top players, received the news this week that the World Masters in Bogota later this week are canceled. ‘’That was a complete surprise," assures Blomdahl, who, like Glenn Hofman, will be leaving for the World Cup in Bogota next week.
The final phase of the Kozoom league is drawing closer in the 18th round. Five teams stand a chance of securing four playoff spots; Aartsbouw and Cues&Darts are already virtually assured of that title battle.
SIS/Vervoort, playing away against Burgmans Biljarts on Sunday, and Paperclip, Van Baal's opponent in an away match, are making some last attempts to reach the top four, but that chance is diminishing every week.
Team Eekhoorn has a match to catch up on and will do so against Harwig, the last-placed team, with Eddy Leppens and Peter Ceulemans as teammates. With five matches remaining, Leppens will actually play four times for Team Eekhoorn, which has already faced the teams at the top of the standings twice.
Aartsbouw faces a tough challenge at home against Dallinga. The team from Zeeland is in a winning mood and played a strong match last week against SIS/Vervoort, which lost 6-2 to close the gap. Dallinga is currently in fifth position, level with Eekhoorn and one point behind Bousema. "We are facing a few difficult weeks now," says team manager Berry Dallinga. Eddy Merckx-Jean Paul de Bruijn is one of the top matches, the same as Forthomme-Jaspers.
The matches and lineups, Sunday, March 29, 13.00:
Aartsbouw-Dallinga
Eddy Merckx-Jean Paul de Bruijn
Barry van Beers-Peter De Backer
Wesley de Jaeger-Steven van Acker
Ronny Brants-Berry Dallinga
RCN-Cues&Darts
Dave Christiani-Torbjörn Blomdahl
Gerwin Valentijn-Glenn Hofman
Philippe Vandendriessche-Jef Philipoom
Henk Blauwblomme-Joey de Kok
Team Eekhoorn-Harwig
Eddy Leppens-Richard Dekker
Peter Ceulemans-Marcel Krikhaar
Frans van Kuyk-Theo Moes
Jerry Hermans-Jan Vos
Van Baal-Paperclip
Roland Forthomme-Dick Jaspers
Sam van Etten-Anno de Kleine
Rik van Beers-Dan Breur
Francis Forton-Peter van Lieshout
Burgmans-SIS
Davy van Havere-Jean van Erp
Erwin Kivits-Raimond Burgman
Marco Janssen-Raymond Swertz
Johan Roijers-Harrie van de Ven