OOSTERHOUT – The big high level debut was already last year, the Babbelz team's real breakthrough in the premier league has come now and exceeded all expectations. The proud frontrunner of the premier three cushion league has realized an unbeaten run of 14 rounds of play. Babbelz leads the premier league with 24 match points, four points ahead of Team Eekhoorn and six ahead of Cues&Darts and STZ Zundert. ’’The goal of our new team was to reach the play-offs,‘’ confessed Inge Verwijmeren, the team leader. ‘’That should definitely be achievable now, with such a lead. We are over halfway through and things are looking quite promising. This is an exceptional year for now, none of us expected this, not the team management, not the players and not the fans. Every week we say: coming out with one point against strong opponents is enough. But even against key rivals, we have won 8-0. Those are totally unexpected scores.‘’
This Sunday, heavyweights will visit Babbelz again. Bousema comes in his strongest line-up with Tayfun Tasdemir, Martin Horn, Jeffrey Jorissen and Johan Loncelle. It’s surely a new challenge for Babbelz, which itself plays with Frédéric Caudron, Dion Nelin, Savas Bulut and Davy van Havere. ‘’We expect a lot of fans,‘’ Inge Verwijmeren assured. ’’It’s a busy day for Oosterhout, as there is a ’Dweildag’ planned in the centre, as always on three weeks before Carnival. But the bands are not allowed inside our arena during the matches.‘’
Babbelz has long revealed itself as this season's revelation. The start was impressive, with Babbelz making huge progress in this first year. Inge: ’’With the Nachtwacht team, with John Verkooijen, playing at De Eekhoorn, we gained some experience. The plan is more than succeeded. We, Jan, who used to play big table himself, and I, wanted to turn Babbelz into a billiards cafe, because many of our visitors play billiards. The Nachtwacht team fell apart due to several factors. John was looking for a new venue. With DKM's few players, Davy van Havere, Roland Uijtdewillegen, Ronny Lindemann and Jack Wijnen, we set up. Dion Nelin was already there, Savas Bulut too, Fred Caudron and Berkay Karakurt joined us. And now we may already say it has become a successful plan.‘
Meanwhile, the organizational blemishes have also been ironed out. Inge: ’’With Nachtwacht, last year, we ran into issues with the rules of the federation and organizers. That period is over now, we have everything well in hand.‘’
Reactions are mostly positive. ‘’We have changed the culture a bit, also for the fans. Before the game, everyone gets coffee with hot sausage sandwich. And we win a lot, so the players all feel at home too. We do everything together. For Sunday, we also know exactly what kind of heavy artillery we're getting in. We both know what we can expect from each other. We all go for a full house.‘’
The next few weeks are sure to be tough: first Bousema, then SIS, followed by Team Eekhoorn. The fifteenth round has other big matches ahead. For instance, Cues&Darts will play out against Paperclip (Dick Jaspers-Glenn Hofman) and Cues&Darts will enter with a strong foursome, such as Ruben Legazpi, Huub Wilkowski, who made a starting run of 16 in Belgium this week, and Therese Klompenhouwer.
The matches for Sunday:
Team Babbelz-Bousema/JBSCues
Frédéric Caudron-Tayfun Tasdemir
Dion Nelin-Martin Horn
Savas Bulut-Jeffrey Jorissen
Davy van Havere-Johan Loncelle
Paperclip-Cues&Darts/Xtreme
Dick Jaspers-Glenn Hofman
Anno de Kleine-Ruben Legazpi
Dan Breur-Huub Wilkowski
Marcel van Lieshout-Therese Klompenhouwer
De Biljart Academy-Dallinga
Roland Forthomme-Jean Paul de Bruijn
Roy Zielemans-Steven van Acker
Paul Wallerand-Peter De Backer
Mathy Monnissen-Berry Dallinga
Aartsbouw/Domicili-SIS/Vervoort
Eddy Merckx-Raimond Burgman
Turgay Orak-Raymund Swertz
Alan Schröder-Martien van der Spoel
Wesley de Jaeger-Harrie van de Ven
J&F Auto's/Jorissen-Team Eekhoorn
Murat Gökmen-Nick Polychronopoulos
Kay de Zwart-Peter Ceulemans
Paul Bruijstens-Frans van Kuyk
Herman van Daalen-Jerry Hermans
RCN Nieuwegein-STZ Zundert
Dave Christiani-Sergei Jimenez
Barry van Beers-Sam van Etten
Gerwin Valentijn-Thorsten Frings
Henk Blauwblomme-Francis Forton