The 19th round of the Dutch premier league is partly dominated by the full schedules of some top foreign players. For instance, Sameh Sidhom, Nick Polychronopoulos, Eddy Leppens and Peter Ceulemans played a cup match in Sluiskil last Friday evening (Team Eekhoorn won 2-6 vs Dallinga) and will be back in action with their teams on Sunday. Frédéric Caudron does not play with the frontrunner Babbelz, because he is competing with his team in the European Classic Games Cup (Coupe d’Europe). Dion Nelin leads the Number1 premier league team in the Dutch home match against J&F Auto's. The line-up of matches is no less strong. For instance, the topmatch between Tayfun Tasdemir and Nick Polychronopoulos is on the agenda for Sunday, Sidhom plays against Jimenez, Leppens against Jorissen and there are matches between Glenn Hofman and Jean van Erp, Jean Paul de Bruijn and Sam van Etten and the Belgian classic between Eddy Merckx and Roland Forthomme.
The number 4 of the Kozoom league, Team Eekhoorn, with 22 points, has a 2-point lead over RCN Nieuwegein and Bousema, 3 points over Aartsbouw and 4 points over SIS/Vervoort, so tension is still running high with 4 matches to play.
The final field for the cup final is gradually forming with the likes of Cues&Darts, the title holder, and Paperclip. Team Eekhoorn joined that pair on Friday night by winning in an exciting match against Dallinga. Nick Polychronopoulos and Eddy Leppens decided the match in the late evening: the Greek won in the decisive third set against Sameh Sidhom 15-14, Leppens beat Jean Paul de Bruijn after 1-1 in sets in the third set 15-14. Before the break, Peter De Backer won 2-1 vs Frans van Kuyk and Peter Ceulemans won 2-1 vs Steven van Acker.
The matches for the premier league Sunday:
Team Babbelz-J&F Auto's
Dion Nelin-Javier Palazon
Savas Bulut-Murat Gökmen
Davy van Havere-Kay de Zwart
Jack Wijnen-Paul Bruijstens
Aartsbouw-Biljartacademie
Eddy Merckx-Roland Forthomme
Turgay Orak-Thomas Broux
Ronny Brants-Roy Zielemans
Wesley de Jaeger-Marco Janssen.
Cues&Darts-SIS
Glenn Hofman-Jean van Erp
Ruben Legazpi-Raimond Burgman
Huub Wilkowski-Martien van der Spoel
Joey de Kok-Harrie van de Ven
Bousema-Team Eekhoorn
Tayfun Tasdemir-Nick Polychronopoulos
Jeffrey Jorissen-Eddy Leppens
Gökhan Salman-Peter Ceulemans
Johan Loncelle-Frans van Kuyk
Dallinga-Zundert
Sameh Sidhom-Sergio Jimenez
Jean Paul de Bruijn-Sam van Etten
Steven van Acker-Thorsten Frings
Peter De Backer-Francis Forton
RCN Nieuwegein-Paperclip
Dave Christiani-Dick Jaspers
Barry van Beers-Anno de Kleine
Gerwin Valentijn-Cédric Melnytschenko
Henk Blauwblomme-Dan Breur