Merckx and Hofman up for final test in Kozoom league

UDEN/OOSTERHOUT - For a number of players in the Dutch premier league, Sunday's ninth round of the Kozoom league is a final test and a final stop before heading for the World Cup in Sharm El Sheikh. Five Dutch players, Jeffrey Jorissen, Sam van Etten, Joey de Kok, Glenn Hofman and Volkan Cetin will be in action with their teams on Sunday before they leave in more than a week's time for the Egyptian tourist resort where the last World Cup this year will be played. The premier league makes a stop after Sunday until 17 December and after the 11th round of play on 23 December, the three-week winter break starts until 14 January.

Two of the top teams in the premier league meet on Sunday: after the top match at De Eekhoorn, SIS Schoonmaak plays Sunday at home against Cues&Darts, the number three in the rankings. A nice match in that meeting is the encounter between Eddy Merckx, almost unbeatable for many weeks now, and Glenn Hofman, Cues&Darts' leading man, who plays the World Cup in Sharm and wants to return to all World Cups next year. Another interesting match this Sunday is that with Jean van Erp, one of the match winners for SIS last week, against Ruben Legazpi.

SIS Schoonmaak defends its leading position after the 5-3 win over Team Eekhoorn. The leader is two points ahead of Eekhoorn and four over Cues&Darts and Topbiljart Zundert, who are followed on the rankings by Dekker/APSprundel and Bousema/Lochem.

Dekker plays a home match against Topbiljart Zundert, Dallinga against Bousema Lochem and in the lower regions, DKM Tools faces Team Nachtwacht.

This Sunday will also see a number of foreign players in action before leaving for Egypt a few days later for the World Cup, including Merckx, Horn, Legazpi, Peter Ceulemans, De Backer and Orak.

On Saturday, Dallinga plays a match against Team Nachtwacht forward that was scheduled for the 11th round, but that day the café in Sluiskil will be closed. The Zeeland team plays at 1pm this Saturday with Raymond Ceulemans in the team.

The schedule and line-ups for the Kozoom league this Sunday (all matches to be seen live on Kozoom from 13.00 Sunday afternoon).

Kozoom league play round 9:

SIS Schoonmaak-Cues&Darts/Xtreme

Eddy Merckx-Glenn Hofman

Jean van Erp-Ruben Legazpi

Raimond Burgman-Jef Philipoom

Martien van der Spoel-Volkan Cetin

Dekker/APSprundel-STZ Zundert

Dave Christiani-Sergio Jimenez

Barry van Beers-Thorsten Frings

Gerwin Valentijn-Sam van Etten

Henk Blauwblomme-Rik van Beers

Burgmans Biljarts-Team Eekhoorn

Anno de Kleine-Peter Ceulemans

Bart Ceulemans-Frans van Kuyk

Marco Janssen-Kurt Ceulemans

Johan Roijers-Jerry Hermans.

Dallinga.com-Bousema/JBScues

Jean Paul de Bruijn-Martin Horn

Steven van Acker-Jeffrey Jorissen

Peter De Backer-Johan Loncelle

Berry Dallinga-Stefan Galla

J&F Auto/New Jorissen-Aartsbouw Sprundel

Kay de Zwart-Turgay Orak

Joey de Kok-Ronny Brants

Therese Klompenhouwer-Dirk Weeremans

Herman van Daalen-Tom Persyn

DKM Tools-Team Nachtwacht

Dion Nelin-Erwin Kivits

Davy van Havere-Harrie van de Ven

Roland Uijtdewillegen-Frank Martens

Jack Wijnen-Frits Broeders.