DOETINCHEM - At the Dutch artistic billiards championships, 23 year young Jop de Jong prolonged his title in a final against Sander Jonen. he Arnhem billiards player goes to the European artistic championships in Antalya in four and has tough plans: he wants to hike 500 kilometers along the Turkish coast in three weeks after the Championships. The eight competitors at the Dutch title race, which was played in De Veemarkt in Doetinchem, first met in two groups of four. Jop de Jong and Sander Jonen won the cross-finals against Mark Janssen and Patrick de Haan, who finished in third place.
Jop de Jong played a shaky tournament, as he first lost to Sander Jonen 3-0 in the group phase without any chance. He then recovered with wins over Erik Vijverberg and Johnny van Mil to qualify for the cross-finals. Sander Jonen won the group with 6 match points.
Patrick de Haan was the strongest in the other flight with Mark Janssen in second place, both with 4 match points.
Jop de Jong won the cross-final against Patrick de Haan 2-0 in sets and 70.270 per cent, Sander Jonen beat Mark Janssen 2-0 and 60.930 per cent. The final was exciting for a long time, but in the end Jop de Jong pulled off the championship like last year, winning 3-2 in sets, 68.196 against 59.735.
The 23-year-old champion is looking forward to the European championships, where he will compete with the international top both individually and with the orange team. Sander Jonen, the runner-up at the Dutch race: '’I expect that Jop will score high, because he shows how good and strong he is every time.''
Jop de Jong will stay in Turkey for another three weeks after the EC. ’’I want to hike the ancient Lycian Way over 550 kilometers along the Turkish coast. I'm looking forward to that immensely.'' Sander Jonen contradicted the story that he plans to quit artistic billiards. ''I will definitely continue up to the European Championships, after that I will see what I’m gonna do next.''
Sander Jonen, second place
The final ranking at the NK artistic (match points, set ratio, percentage):1 Jop de Jong 8-12-7-65.876
2 Sander Jonen 8-14-4-64.428
3 Patrick de Haan 4-8-8-57,183
3 Mark Janssen 4-8-8-53,744
5 Erik Vijverberg 4-5-7-49,484
6 Benny Smits 4-7-8-57,487
7 René Dericks 2-4-10-58,333
8 Johnny van Mil 0-5-11-55,642.