The Dutch premier three cushion league, the Kozoom league, closes the regular competition with a double round this weekend (Saturday 3 and Sunday 4 May). On Saturday and Sunday, the 12 teams will come into action for the last time in the 21st and 22nd rounds, when the decisions will be made on the four places in the play-offs and the position in the battle for promotion and/or relegation. For the climax of the league, heavy fire will come up in all arenas. Just a choice of the top matches this weekend in the Dutch league:
Merckx-Jaspers, Polychronopoulos-Sidhom, Tasdemir-Blomdahl, Sidhom-Tasdemir, Horn-Hofman, Forthomme-Caudron, Jaspers-Palazón, Leppens-De Bruijn.
Many of those top players travel from one match to another in these weeks. The last important matches were played in Germany (Saturday and Sunday) and the Netherlands (Sunday), the Belgians had just finished the showdown of the competition and this Thursday and Friday, the final matches were played in the French first league, fighting for four positions in the Final Four. For some, like Peter Ceulemans, a real amateur in the circuit of many professional players, that means a lot of travelling, a lot of kilometers, usually taking a lot of days off. ,,I estimate in this week about 2,000 kilometres with 700 for the bundesliga to Elversberg and 1,000 for France to Colmar up and down. Days off are not so bad this time, because 1 May is a public holiday for us. But it doesn't only apply to me though, look at Polychronopoulos, Forthomme, Jaspers, Merckx, Hofman and others.‘’
For other players, such as Torbjörn Blomdahl, Dick Jaspers, Sameh Sidhom, Eddy Merckx, Ruben Legazpi, Nick Polychronopoulos, Dion Nelin, Roland Forthomme and Sergio Jimenez, there are lot of combined outings. Sameh Sidhom is one such player, who travelled from Egypt to the Netherlands (Sluiskil) last week, has since then played four matches there, travelled up and down to Germany but has now stayed with Dallinga for a week to play a main role in the important final weekend for his team. Tayfun Tasdemir, Nick Polychronopoulos, Martin Horn and Sergio Jimenez are also just a few of the players who meanwhile speak a fair bit of Dutch, as Semih Sayginer so mastered in the distant past.
Where lies Saturday and Sunday's glorious end of the competition, which teams will finally make it four for the title. And where are still pain points with one position (10th) still worrying about relegation?
Team Babbelz can enter the double weekend with a comfortable lead and thus sure of the decisive battle for the championship. The Oosterhout team makes a gala tour to De Biljartacademie and Sunday at home against RCN Nieuwegein. Saturday they do that with Frédéric Caudron, Dion Nelin, Savas Bulut and Dutchman Jack Wijnen. On Sunday, it will be four foreigners because Jack Wijnen has been replaced by Davy van Havere. The Babbelz team has after 20 rounds a team average of 1.440, nice to see is that Cues&Darts, the number 2, does a little better with 1.442.
Cues&Darts is in a favorable position and is already definitely placed, as it has a better match balance than its rivals. Monique Wilkowski's team plays away against Bousema and at home against Zundert, so can still play a role in the opponents' chances. On Saturday, Blomdahl, Hofman, Legazpi and Philipoom will play. So that will be a real top billings in Bousema's arena with Tasdemir, Horn, Salman and Loncelle as opponents. On Sunday, Cues&Darts plays at home against Zundert with Hofman, Philipoom, Klompenhouwer and De Kok.
Team Eekhoorn, Zundert and Bousema will therefore basically battle it out for the two remaining places. Eekhoorn plays at home against Dallinga and away against SIS. Zundert starts Saturday at home against SIS and plays Sunday away vs Cues&Darts. Bousema starts at home against Cues&Darts and has to finish vs Dallinga in Sluiskil.
Then, finally, there is that battle for one position: tenth in the ranking, which position after the league has to decide with a team from the first division which team may show up in the premier league next season. Jean van Erp (top player in SIS) did a nice calculation for it. ’’It’s gonna be tough for Dallinga, who need to get at least three points in a tough double. Then, we may even lose two with SIS. If we win in Zundert on Saturday, Dallinga is already sure of that tenth place. Unless Paperclip or Aartsbouw come up with 0 points, but they have a relatively easy schedule.‘’
The ranking after 20 rounds:
- Team Babbelz 35-1.440
- Cues&Darts 27-1.442
- Team Eekhoorn 24-1.397
- STZ Zundert 24-1.250
- Bousema 23-1.323
- RCN Nieuwegein 21-1.319
- Aartsbouw 20-1.309
- Paperclip 20-1.234
- SIS/Vervoort 19-1.405
- Dallinga.com 17-1.208
- J&F Auto’s 8-1.084
- De Biljartacademie 2-1.103
The double schedule and the line-ups:
Saturday 3 May, round 21:
STZ Zundert-SIS/Vervoort
Sergio Jimenez-Jean van Erp
Sam van Etten-Raimond Burgman
Thorsten Frings-Raymund Swertz
Francis Forton-Martien van der Spoel
Team Eekhoorn-Dallinga.com
Nick Polychronopoulos-Sameh Sidhom
Eddy Leppens-Jean Paul de Bruijn
Peter Ceulemans-Steven van Acker
Frans van Kuyk-Peter De Backer
Bousema/JBSCues-Cues&Darts/Xtreme
Tayfun Tasdemir-Torbjörn Blomdahl
Martin Horn-Glenn Hofman
Gökhan Salman-Ruben Legazpi
Johan Loncelle-Jef Philipoom
RCN Nieuwegein-Aartsbouw-Domicili
Dave Christiani-Eddy Merckx
Barry van Beers-Ronny Brants
Gerwin Valentijn-Tom Persyn
Henk Blauwblomme-Wesley de Jaeger
De Biljartacademie-Team Babbelz
Roland Forthomme-Frédéric Caudron
Thomas Broux-Dion Nelin
Paul Wallerand-Savas Bulut
Matty Monnissen-Jack Wijnen
Paperclip-J&F Auto’s/Jorissen
Dick Jaspers-Javier Palazón
Anno de Kleine-Murat Gökmen
Cédric Melnytschenko-Kay de Zwart
Dan Breur-Paul Bruijstens
Sunday 4 May, round 22:
SIS-Team Eekhoorn
Burgman-Polychronopoulos
Swertz-Leppens
Van der Spoel-Peter Ceulemans
Van der Ven-Kurt Ceulemans
Cues&Darts-Zundert
Hofman-Jimenez
Philipoom-Van Etten
Klompenhouwer-Frings
De Kok-Forton
Dallinga-Bousema
Sidhom-Tasdemir
De Bruijn-Horn
Van Acker-Salman
De Backer-Loncelle
Babbelz-RCN
Caudron-Christiani
Nelin-Barry van Beers
Bulut-Valentijn
Van Havere-Blauwblomme
Aartsbouw-Paperclip
Merkx-Jaspers
Brants-Bury
Persyn-De Kleine
De Jaeger-Breur
J&F-De Biljartacademie
Palazón-Forthomme
Gökmen-Broux
De Zwart-Wallerand
Van Daalen-Monnissen