TILBURG/SLUISKIL – This Sunday's round in the Dutch premier leage showed a nice preview of the World Championship for National Teams with the match between Dick Jaspers and Glenn Hofman. The Dutch captain bowed to his intended successor, Glenn Hofman, which can only boost team spirit. Glenn Hofman doesn’t fear anybody and heads into his first World Championship for the Netherlands with an open mind. Dick Jaspers holds the title with Holland and is at his best when world gold is at stake. In short, the league’s 15th round set the tone for the Dutch chances. The Kozoom league round kept Aartsbouw in the lead, Cues&Darts remained in second place, thanks in part to Hofman's victory. The top three saw Team Eekhoorn make a misstep with a loss to Dallinga, bringing Bousema level with Eekhoorn, and Dallinga threatens the top four. Jean Paul de Bruijn and Peter De Backer formed the golden tandem for the Zeeland team. The day's top winners were Jean Paul de Bruijn with 40 in 16, Eddy Merckx with 40 in 18, Glenn Hofman and Gökhan Salman with 40 in 19 and Jef Philipoom with 40 in 20. The high runs were modest: Hofman 13, Philipoom 12, De Bruijn, and De Kleine 10.

The most exciting match was between Peter De Backer and Peter Ceulemans, where the two Belgians battled until the end for success for the team. De Backer had two formidable final runnings, closing the margin and even winning 40-38. Jean Paul de Bruijn also delivered a magnificent performance.

The Dutch premier league, anyway, is not impressed by the occasional "Korean pro’s coming tot he matches." For Eekhoorn, Belgian Eddy Leppens is promoted to first man during his substitute appearances, at the expense of multi winner Peter Ceulemans. A few weeks ago, the Belgian-Korean lost to Tom Löwe, a rather modest German, 40-26. This Sunday afternoon, Jean Paul de Bruijn swept Leppens off the table 40-17 in a sublime match after a spectacular final attack: a daring, brilliant cushion first for his 33rd point and a final run of 10 with a magnificent final carom. Finally, Steven van Acker also defeated Frans van Kuyk, and only Kurt Ceulemans could claim a victory against Berry Dallinga, allowing the Zeeland team to defeat Eekhoorn 6-2.

The prestige of the master and his successor has been at stake for several years now when Jaspers and Hofman play each other. This time, it took place in the Cues&Darts arena, where such matches are often well-attended. Hofman had the best start, extending his lead to 16-0 in two innings with 3 and 13, but Jaspers doesn't shy away from such an attack. The Brabant star had already recovered to 19-18 in 10 and 23-23 in the next part. Jaspers launched the final sprint with a 27-23 margin, then Hofman turned to his advantage, bringing it to 32-30. The Hague player finished beautifully with 8, after which Jaspers, with 5, closed the gap to 40-35.

Anno de Kleine won in that match against Ruben Legazpi, who took the Spanish title last week. Jef Philipoom was superior to Cédric Melnytschenko, a 40-15 victory in 20 matches, and Huub Wilkowski defeated Dan Breur with a 40-35 victory in 35. Aartsbouw could once again count on his strong leader, Merckx (40-27 in 18 matches against Van Havere), while the other two Belgians, De Jaeger and Brants, defeated Kivits and Janssen. Bart Ceulemans was the only player to achieve success for Burgmans, defeating Barry van Beers 40-26 in 22.

Bousema came at home with a narrow victory against Harwig, the last-placed team in the rankings. That was the result of Frans van Schaik's loss to Theo Moes 40-39 in 28 and Johan Loncelle's draw against Richard Dekker 40-40 in 31. Jeffrey Jorissen and Gökhan Salman saved their team: Jorissen defeated Niehaus 40-26 in 31, and Salman swept Lamboo 40-13 in 19. RCN Nieuwegein and SIS shared the win. Nieuwegein won two Dutch classics. Dave Christiani defeated Jean van Erp 40-32 in 26, and Gerwin Valentijn beat Raimond Burgman 40-38 in 26. The SIS points came from Van der Spoel and Van de Ven.

Jean Paul de Bruijn overpowered Eddy Leppens

The standings:

Aartsbouw 14-23-1,344
Cues&Darts 14-21-1,388
Team Eekhoorn 14-18-1,353
Bousema 14-18-1,389
Dallinga 14-16-1,200
SIS/Vervoort 13-13-1,334
Paperclip 13-11-1,173
Burgmans 14-10-1,184
Van Baal 13-9-1,235
RCN 14-7-1,116
Harwig 13-4-0,944

Next week there is no competition program due to carnival.