SLUISKIL - The final match was one with an amazing apotheosis. Zeeland's billiard stronghold in Sluiskil shook to its foundations as two matches in the pressing, death-defying final minutes had to decide the verdict on win or lose. For the Dutch premier league, Dallinga and Team Eekhoorn played against each other this Sunday afternoon. The score was 2-2 at the break of the match and everything was still wide open just a few caroms from the end. At a crucial moment, the match Polychronopoulos against De Bruijn was at 40-39 and Ceulemans against Van Acker also at 40-39. The two Zeeland players had the team's win up for grabs, but in the end Steven van Acker did equalize his match and Jean Paul de Bruijn did not.
The scintillating final gave De Eekhoorn the full win (5-3, in the away match) and left Dallinga with a hangover (3-5 loss, in the home match). So that's how close winning a match and not winning were in a matter of minutes on this Sunday afternoon.
The Greek Nikos Polychronopoulos was the celebrated match winner, as he thundered over Jean Paul de Bruijn from an almost impossible position with 40-39 in 23 innings. Peter De Backer had already ensured budding Zeeland glory earlier in the match with a superb run of 14 and a win over Frans van Kuyk (40-29 in 22) and Steven van Acker just kept the door of success open against Peter Ceulemans by equalizing his match (40-40 in 23). But oh, oh…, that equalizer from Jean Paul de Bruijn, how the home crowd was waiting for that, so the match would still end in a well deserved draw. De Bruijn, however, missed his last in an equalizer for 3. The Eekhoorn boys remain the number two on the league table, the Dallinga team dropped below the middle order to position eighth.
The Brabant team bypassed a dreaded obstacle in Zeeland, winning the match and staying just below SIS Schoonmaak, which remains 1 point ahead by the 8-0 win in The Hague against J&F Auto's with best performances for Jean van Erp, Raymund Swertz and Raimond Burgman. Topbiljart Zundert dropped a precious point at home against Bousema, where Thorsten Frings was important by his 40-39 against Johan Loncelle and only Sam van Etten was the other winner for Zundert. Jeffrey Jorissen beat strong Spaniard Sergio Jimenez, who, like him, is travelling to the World championship for nations in Viersen this week, 40-30 in 34.
Ruben Legazpi (40 in 16), Huub Wilkowski (40 in 18), Omer Karakurt (40 in 19) and Bart Ceulemans (40 in 20) were the top winners of this 16th round of play.
The last two teams in the rankings, Team Nachtwacht and Aartsbouw Sprundel, floundered in the relegation battle thanks to Turkish front men Turgay Orak (draw against Anno de Kleine) and Omer Karakurt (win over Dave Christiani).
Cues&Darts came away with an 8-0 win against DKM Tools thanks to globetrotters Robinson Morales, Ruben Legazpi, Huub Wilkowski and Burak Hashas. For Burgmans, Bart Ceulemans delivered an outstanding match against Ronny Brants (40-25 in 20).