ZUNDERT - The Christmas tournament in Zundert, Netherlands, traditionally the last three cushion event of the year, will have a line-up with four Dutch and four foreign players this year. Dick Jaspers is the highest qualified player and last year's winner. The tournament is played in two groups of four, at one match table and in sets to 9 caroms. The playing dates are Friday 27, Saturday 28, Sunday 29 and Monday 30 December.
The system of the previous edition will not change. Louis Havermans from Billiards Center D'n Hoek announced: ''The format was a success, the audience likes it, so there was no reason to change.'' The group matches are played on the first two days and are completed on Sunday. That day, the semi-finals are scheduled. ''On Monday, only the final match will follow. As always, we opted for international participation with Dick Jaspers and Eddy Merckx as top players from the top of the world rankings."
Three Dutch players were invited in addition: Barry van Beers and Gerwin Valentijn as guys from the region and Jeffrey Jorissen from The Hague, who made his breakthrough in the league and in the Veghel World Cup this year. "The other two Belgians are Roland Forthomme and Peter Ceulemans, two players with lots of fans in our billiard venue. The field is completed by Antonio Montes, the Spanish former European junior champion and semi-finalist at the Veghel World Cup."
Last year, Dick Jaspers won the final against Frédéric Caudron, after Eddy Merckx was the winner at the Lausanne Billard Masters in the weeks before. This year, Jaspers won Lausanne in the final against Merckx, both participants at the Christmas tournament.
Hans Snellen and Louis Havermans are in charge of the tournament. The main prize is 2750 euros.
The group formats are:
Group A:
Eddy Merckx
Roland Forthomme
Barry van Beers
Gerwin Valentijn
Group B:
Dick Jaspers
Antonio Montes
Peter Ceulemans
Jeffrey Jorissen.
Group A starts with the matches on Friday 27 December. Group B plays its matches on Saturday, December 28.
The full schedule will be announced in the next days.