3-Cushion
BERLICUM - The final rounds at the Jumbo Masters, with eight players in the knock-outs and the world champion Torbjörn Blomdahl as the live commentator, comes to the show down in the next two days without Dutch player Jeffrey Jorissen. The tournament for the Dutch championship continues tomorrow (Wednesday) with seven qualified players and one substitute for Jorissen, who rapidly went home after a phone call informing him that his wife Kim is on her way to give birth to their baby. Joey de Kok from Zeeland is Jorissen's substitute.
When Jorissen announced his retirement, the KNBB competition committee started to discuss the last part of the competition. The final decision was that Jorissen's stopped match against Jack van Peers (when Jorissen was 2-1 ahead) was converted into a regulation 3-0 victory for Van Peer. That made Martien van der Spoel the winner of this group and Joey de Kok the runner-up.
Ludo Kools was the revelation of the pre-rounds. The 53-year-old debutant from Brabant and former construction worker qualified for the knock-outs by wins over Dave Christiani and Barry van Beers.
The schedule for the quarter-finals on Wednesday is (start at 10.00):
Raimond Burgman-Martien van der Spoel
Barry van Beers-Ludo Kools
Raymund Swertz-Jean van Erp
Dick Jaspers-Joey de Kok
The reigning champion Jaspers was leading the ranking after the preliminaries with the maximum of six match points and 1,846 on average, Jean van Erp, one of the other main contenders, had some luck in the qualifications and slipped into the quarter-finals with only one win. After Jorissen's departure, Joey de Kok did the same: one win in 3 matches.
The four main players and group winners in the first shift, that brought the Masters from sixteen to eight players in three days, were Dick Jaspers, Raymund Swertz, Barry van Beers and Martien van der Spoel. Two of these four group winners (Jaspers and Swertz) came through the qualification stage with the maximum of six match points.
The group overviews and final rankings:
Group A:
Dick Jaspers already assured himself of a place in the quarter finals with superior performances. He also won his third and last match against Harrie van de Ven 3-0 (10-7, 10-7, 10-5) and 1,500 on average. The match on the other table between Raimond Burgman and Frans van Schaik decided over the runner-up position. The starting shot was fired by Van Schaik (10-8 in 9), then Raimond Burgman pulled the match to himself with comfortable set scores (10-5 in 5, 10-5 in 4 and 10-6 in 7).
The final ranking in Group A:
1 Dick Jaspers 6-1,846-6 (9-1)
2 Raimond Burgman 4 1,355-7 (7-6)
3 Frans van Schaik 2-1,272-5 (4-6)
4 Harrie van de Ven 0-1,112-7 (2-9)
Group B
The group that took the spotlights after two matches. When Jeffrey Jorissen decided to go home, the battle for the two positions on top suddenly was hot. Martien van der Spoel already took the match against Joey de Kok at the TV table in an exciting five-set match in which the last set after 10-4, 10-9, 7-10 and 1-10 was won by Van der Spoel 10-0 in two innings. The Nijmegen native was on top of the group for qualification. And after the Section Three cushion board's deliberation to remove Jorissen from the group ranking, Van der Spoel became the group winner. Joey de Kok, the number two, qualified second in the group for the knock-outs.
The final ranking in Group B:
1 Martien van der Spoel 4-1,076-6 (7-6)
2 Joey de Kok 2-1,014-5 (5-6)
3 Jack van Peer 2-0,647-4 (4-6)
4 Jeffrey Jorissen 0-0-0-0
Group C:
The show down in Group C had another outcome than expected. Raymund Swertz was the player to dominate the quadruple and was the proud leader after three sessions with the maximum score. Jean van Erp did slip into the knock-outs as the second player who played two matches with an acceptable average, but was far from convincing in the later stage. Two painful losses and one win put the local hero in the limelight with some fortune for the battle in the final rounds. Roland Uijtdewillegen, a 50-year old Brabant man, finished after two losses with a 3-1 win over Jean van Erp, knowing that 3-0 could have brought him even further. Swertz crowned his performance in the preliminaries with a nice third victory over Huub Wilkowski: 3-1 in sets, 10-6, 9-10, 10-3 and 10-8. Jean van Erp had to wait for Wilkowski in the last session. When he lost his match to Swertz, a big smile came on Van Erp's face.
The final ranking in Group C:
1 Raymund Swertz 6-1,341-8 (9-3)
2 Jean van Erp 2-1,313-6 (5-6)
3 Roland Uijtdewillegen 2-0,936-6 (5-7)
4 Huub Wilkowski 2-1,209-8 (4-7)
Group D:
The scenario in Group D resembled the previous group with Raymund Swertz and Jean van Erp, because Barry van Beers had a comfortable starting position, Kay de Zwart and Ludo Kools were the two-point players after two rounds and Dave Christiani went to his last appearance with just a little hope. The course was unpredictable: Christiani, from Limburg, reached his top form for the first time, was even close to three-average and gave Kay de Zwart no chance at all: 3-0 with set scores 10-7, 10-1 and 10-2 (last set in two innings with 8 and 2). Ludo Kools, a 53-year old from Brabant, turned out into the sensation of the preliminaries. He beat Barry van Beers and unexpectedly passed Dave Christiani for second place in the final ranking. The Limburg player got an unexpected chance: if Jeffrey Jorissen would have finished his match against Jack van Peer, the group ranking should have been maintained (1 Jorissen, 2 Van der Spoel) and Christiani would have been the best number three of the groups for the quarter-finals instead of Joey de Kok.
The final ranking in Group D:
1 Barry van Beers 4-1,267-5 (8-5)
2 Ludo Kools 4-1,156-8 (6-6)
3 Dave Christiani 2-1,491-8 (5-6)
4 Kay de Zwart 2-1,235-6 (4-6)
Raymund Swertz, unbeaten in the pre-rounds, meets Jean van Erp again in the quarters
Young player Joey de Kok, lucky to be the substitute of Jeffrey Jorissen