SCHIJNDEL - These are heydays for Bousema's billiard players, team coach Ronny Hazewinkel and fans in the billiard region in the east of the country. The Brabant hegemony has been broken after the victory in Saturday's cup final: Bousema from Lochem beat Cues&Darts from Tilburg, defending champion in this final, sovereignly 9-5 in sets, an average of 1.653 against Cues&Darts 1.485. It is the first major victory for Bousema/JBSCues in the history of the stronghold. Ronny Hazewinkel was overjoyed, although he is not an exuberant winner. ’’This is great for our team, we are super happy with it, but the focus after this success is soon back on the next mission. We have rounded off the cup final on Saturday, Sunday we face Eekhoorn in the first match for the play-offs.''
The scoring in the final for cup win showed a clear advantage for Bousema. Gökhan Salman, stable factor in the team, was the better of Jef Philipoom 3-1 in sets, Jeffrey Jorissen, long over his slump, subdued Ruben Legazpi after a mediocre start 2-1, Johan Loncelle, sometimes portrayed as an enfant terrible, can always boast of his class again and was boss over Joey de Kok 2-1 and only Glenn Hofman, the Cues&Darts frontman, was level with Tayun Tasdemir (2-2).
Thanks to that course, Bousema always held the upper hand, Jorissen was important in the decisive final sets against Legazpi and Loncelle could show off the match point and be the first to raise his hands in jubilation. Bousema, with his small, amiable coach, dealt with the syndrome of never having won anything big in the premier league or the cup. ’’I know how happy we make our fans with this,”' Hazewinkel assured. The Bousema triumph works its way through to the club with its 100 members, to Peter Karssenberg, a key man behind the success, and to the sponsors. It also appeals internationally, as Bousema cherishes its long-standing friendship with German, Turkish and Belgian players.
Gökhan Salman was the highest in average in the final with 2,000, followed by Glenn Hofman with 1,925, Johan Loncelle with 1,583, Tayfun Tasdemir with 1,555, Jef Philipoom with 1,535 and Jeffrey Jorissen with 1,416. The most exciting was in the sets between Gökhan Salman and Jef Philipoom: once 15-13, once 13-15. Two players from the losing team scored the highest runs: Jef Philipoom and Joey de Kok both a 10. Dick Jaspers was the best overall with his 15 against Glenn Hofman
Bousema and Cues&Darts qualified for the final by winning against Team Eekhoorn. Notable scores: Tayfun Tasdemir against Nick Polychronopoulos 2-1 (13-15, 15-11, 15-13). Herman van Daalen was the better of Joey de Kok in a thriller: 15-14 and 14-15 in the final sets. Jef Philipoom won as a real cup fighter against Paul Bruijstens 15-12 and 15-14. Gökhan Salman sprinted to a win against Peter Ceulemans in a finish involving a jumping cue ball.
Bousema got through the quarter-finals with a win over SIS, also a former champion and cup winner. The difference was maximum: Bousema won all games and thus 8-0. Tayfun Tasdemir shone with 1.583 against Jean van Erp with 1.500, the SIS leader won the first set 15-8, but was beaten 15-9 and 15-12 in the two next sets. Gökhan Salman was once a minimal winner against Raymund Swertz with 15-14, Frans van Schaik won against Harrie van de Ven 15-14 and 15-13 in the two final sets.
In the other quarter-finals, Team Eekhoorn won 8-0 vs Bonanza, J&F Auto's beat Distel/Green Figures 6-2 (only Omer Karakurt won for Distel from Murat Gökmen). Cues&Darts won against Paperclips 6-2, the match between Dick Jaspers and Glenn Hofman goes in the books as a world match: 2-1 for Jaspers, two runs of 10 for Hofman, who missed out on a match point after an unfortunate decision to have the balls polished before his last carom. The climax was Jaspers' top run, he finished with 15 in the first inning.
The cup winner travelled early on Sunday to the campsite in Oosterhout, where Team Eekhoorn will be opponents in the first match for the play-offs.
The matches from 1pm:
Frans van Kuyk-Gökhan Salman
Kurt Ceulemans-Johan Loncelle
Peter Ceulemans-Jeffrey Jorissen
Nick Polychonopoulos-Tayfun Tasdemir.
Johan Loncelle shows his joy after making the matchpoint
