RIJSBERGEN - The last point made by 72-year old Puck van Aart on this late Sunday afternoon decided over the win in the Cup final. His three team mates, Gerwin Valentijn, Jef Philipoom and John Tijssens, were all tensed up and ran towards the match winner. The foursome from Roosendaal celebrated their victory, first in the arena and later amongst themselves, probably into the wee hours. What nobody had thought possible, happened in the Cup final. The underdog claimed the starring role on the final day.
The Cup, so reminiscent of the Europa Cup with the "big ears", went home with De Distel, after it beat Dallinga in the final. The team from Roosendaal will break up next season, but still is the successor of Dallinga, the three time consecutive Cup winner. The resigning champion and Cup holder are weakened of course, having lost Jaspers and Merckx after three years of glory. De Distel took full advantage, and won thanks to Gerwin Valentijn, Jef Philipoom and Puck van Aart.
The most remarkable result in the final was the one between Gerwin Valentijn and Frédéric Caudron. The former won 3-0 against the player he considers to be the best in the world, helped by an amazing comeback run in the third set. ,,This is the most beautiful victory in my career'', said Valentijn all smiles, speaking about the team result.
Jef Philipoom, already team champion in Belgium with BC Deurne, was one of the best players of the tournament, beating the likes of Jean van Erp and Jean Paul de Bruijn. John Tijssens, as always, had his ups and downs, Puck van Aart was the secret weapon, first in the semifinal against Herman van Daalen, then in the final against Berry Dallinga, when he brought home the two sets required. Two teams that did not even qualify for the play-off stage in the league, faced each other in the final on Sunday. MCR/De Uitspanning, favorite number one, were eliminated by Frédéric Caudron and Jean Paul de Bruijn of Dallinga, when they beat Eddy Leppens 3-2 and Dave Christiani 3-1.
Buffalo from The Hague, where expectations were high, lost it in the semifinals against De Distel, that saw Jef Philipoom excel (3-0 against Jean van Erp) and 72-year old Puck van Aart book a 3-1 against Herman van Daalen. In the final, De Distel drew first blood: Gerwin Valentijn had a flawless start with a run of ten to take the first set off Caudron, 15-7 (10), John Tijssens took the first set against Van Acker and Philipoom won the first set against Jean Paul de Bruijn (15-13 in 7). It took the outsider to a surprising 3-0 lead in sets.
But naturally, Dallinga showed spine and quality to make a match of it. Berry Dallinga won a marathon second set against van Aart (15-6 in 29), Jean Paul de Bruijn leveled with Philipoom (15-4 in 8), Steven van Acker put Tijssens under pressure, taking two sets on the trot (15-9 in 9 and 15-15 in 11), and only Gerwin Valentijn kept the momentum by winning the second set against Caudron (15-10 in 11). The road worker from Sint Willebrord also produced a shining finish, when he survived a set point by Caudron and ran out with nine himself (15-14), to win 3-0 in sets. Earlier, he had just made a grin when Philipoom said: "You just beat Caudron 3-0, then we'll do the rest". It was a justified grin, because to beat one of the best in the world 3-0, was unheard of.
It happened anyway, and then Jef Philipoom had to finish the work. Steven van Acker had beaten John Tijssens (3-1) to balance the score at 1-1, and Berry Dallinga was still grinding it out with Puck van Aart. Philipoom and De Bruijn got back to 2-2, and Van Aart also leveled with Dallinga. The spectators sensed what was coming, when Jef had a strong finish to beat Jean-Paul in a 4-inning final set, which meant the Dallinga - Van Aart match was now the key. The veteran needed one more set to take De Distel over the top. He missed seven times in a row on match point, but finally made the precious last one. Billiards was now like football, where the Cup tournament produces surprises up to the highest levels.
Where were the top four teams of the "eredivisie"? MCR/De Uitspanning, Buffalo.nl, STZ Zundert and A1 Biljarts were not around when the Cup was won on Sunday afternoon. What a good performance by Dallinga, that had to start the tournament without Jean-Paul de Bruijn (came back from Egypt on Thursday). And what a surprise, to see De Distel leave them all behind at the finish line. What a story, about this team that will break up after this season because Gerwin Valentijn will leave for for A1 Biljarts and John Tijssens will play in Utrecht. The team will certainly not reappear in the eredivisie as "De Distel". Werner Broos, the room owner: ,,That decision was made early, because there were some sponsorship problems. We will continue, with a team around Jef Philipoom, Jan Arnouts and Adrie Demming, and attempt to be promoted back.'' This was the best possible goodbye, said Gerwin Valentijn, Jef Philipoom and John Tijssens in unison.
For Puck van Aart, the Cup win is an unexpected success to say the least. The veteran player, who in his previous career with Weena Wilhelmina won the Cup six times (with Ron Schuman, Piet de Jong and Joop de Wilde) and even triumphed in the Europa Cup, experienced an unlikely déjà-vu. The chant of ,,Pukkie, Pukkie'' sounding through the room did not seem to visibly move him, but it was the support that carried him through the decisive moments.
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Puck van Aart for his last point with his teammates in the arena
Final score of the Cup final: 1 De Distel 5-8-0.982-12 2 Dallinga 5-6-1.087-9 3 MCR/De Uitspanning 4-6-1l.207-12 4 Buffalo.nl 4-4-1.052-9 5 Post Luchtkanalen 3-3-1.011-11 6 HCR Prinsen 3-2-0.923-6 7 VDO 3-1-0.813-8 8 De Molen 2 3-0-0.705-7.
The individual table of averages: 1 Eddy Leppens 1.635 2 Frédéric Caudron 1.536 3 Jean Paul de Bruijn 1.516 4 Jef Philipoom 1.388 5 Thorsten Frints 1.360 6 Steven van Acker 1.336 7 Dave Christiani 1.239 8 Jean van Erp 1.200 8 Davy van Havere 1.200 10 Gerwin Valentijn 1.166.