TILBURG – The champions' hegemony in the Dutch Premier League has suffered a minor blow. The Tilburg-based Cues&Darts team was defeated twice in this weekend's doubles and has fallen to mid-table. Babbelz leads the table after five rounds with 9 match points, ahead of Team Eekhoorn and Aartsbouw with 8. The double weekend had its best players in Frédéric Caudron (40 in 13), Eddy Merckx (40 in 15), Glenn Hofman, and Jeffrey Jorissen (40 in 16), with the caveat for Jorissen being that he finished against Sam van Etten on Sunday with 18. Burgmans and Harwig are bottom of the table with 1 point, while Zundert is remarkably close with 2 points.Cues&Darts was the loser of this weekend. This Saturday, the Tilburg team suffered a 7-1 defeat against Paperclip, followed by a narrow 3-5 loss to Team Eekhoorn on Sunday. Frans van Kuyk's 40-39 victory in the final stages against Huub Wilkowski was decisive in securing the victory for Team Eekhoorn.
This weekend, Team Babbelz showed what it excelled at last year, right up to the play-off final. The Oosterhout team is hard to beat, has a virtually unbeatable leader in Frédéric Caudron, can rely on Dion Nelin for an almost certain victory, and always has a player who can guarantee a full victory. That was Jack Wijnen on Saturday and Davy van Havere on Sunday. Caudron's form, so close to the World Cup and the World Championship in his country, is undeniably good. The Belgian showed his class once again on Saturday with a 40 in 13 against Roland Forthomme. Sunday’s second victory against Bart Ceulemans was much less smooth: 40-29 in 35 innings.
Also incredibly sharp for the Belgians in the domestic doubles is Eddy Merckx, who moved into a tie for second place with Aartsbouw. Merckx first won against Bart Ceulemans on Saturday: 40-25 in 15 innings, and then against Raimond Burgman on Sunday: 40-30 in 22 innings. Merckx was the best double winner this weekend with 80 in 37 innings, ahead of Hofman with 80 in 46 innings, Van Kuyk with 80 in 46 innings, Nelin with 80 in 47 innings, Caudron with 80 in 48 innings, Ceulemans with 80 in 52 innings, Horn with 80 in 53 innings, and De Bruijn and Orak with 80 in 54 innings.
Glenn Hofman couldn't prevent the double defeat for his team despite two strong performances. On Saturday, Hofman drew against Jaspers in 30 innings, and on Sunday he defeated Polychronopoulos 40-30 in 16 innings after a great start. In Sunday's match, Cues&Darts was defeated twice at the finish. Jef Philipoom lost 40-39 to Peter Ceulemans, and Huub Wilkowski also lost 40-39 to Frans van Kuyk. Team Babbelz seized temporary control of the premier league on Sunday against Burgmans Biljarts, who put up some good resistance but lost 6-2.
Aartsbouw had a pleasant weekend with victories over Burgmans on Saturday 5-3 and against SIS/Vervoort on Sunday 6-2. Eddy Merckx was the team's double winner, Turgay Orak drew with Erwin Kivits in 23 innings on Saturday and defeated Raymund Swertz in 32 innings on Sunday. Aartsbouw, along with Team Eekhoorn, is on 8 points after five rounds, equal to Team Eekhoorn in second place. Dallinga climbed to a respectable fifth place after tying with Team Eekhoorn on Saturday and winning 6-2 against Harwig on Sunday. The team's one match point on Saturday came partly thanks to Jean Paul de Bruijn's impressive victory over Polychronopoulos (40-35 in 20). The Greek player didn't have the best weekend, as Poly also fell short against Hofman on Sunday. Steven van Acker was successful against Frans van Kuyk on Saturday (40-34 in 29) and against Stefan Lenting on Sunday with a 40-25 in 29 win.
Bousema/JBS defeated Harwig with a glorious 8-0 victory on Saturday, with Horn, Jorissen, Salman, and Galla emerging victorious under 30 innings. On Sunday, the Bousema team climbed to the top of the mid-table with a 6-2 victory over Zundert. Jeffrey Jorissen performed best in his match against Sam van Etten. Jorissen later recalled: "I was 15-19 down at halftime, when I missed three easy shots, allowing Sam to take the initiative. But at 23-22, I was able to finish with 18."
Dick Jaspers secured his first victory in the premier league on Sunday by defeating Dave Christiani 40-29 in 31. Melnytschenko was also successful for Paperclip, winning both of his matches this weekend.
Jeffrey Jorissen was the standout with his high run of 18. Frédéric Caudron made a 16 on Saturday, Glenn Hofman and Gerwin Valentijn both made 11. Eight players achieved a run of 10: Martin Horn (twice), Turgay Orak, Wesley de Jaeger, Peter Ceulemans, Anno de Kleine, Jef Philipoom, and Eddy Merckx.
Team Babbelz has the best average with 1.519, followed by Cues&Darts with 1.452, Bousema with 1.422, and SIS with 1.372.
The standings after the double round:
- Team Babbelz 5-9-1,519
- Team Squirrel 5-8-1,292
- Aartsbouw/Domicili 5-8-1.252
- Bousema/JBS 5-7-1.422
- Dallinga.com 5-7-1.114
- Cues&Darts 5-6-1,452
- RCN Nieuwegein 5-4-1.038
- SIS/Vervoort 5-4-1.372
- Paper clip 5-3-1.177
- STZ Zundert 5-2-1,242
- Burgmans Biljarts 5-1-1,096
- Harwig/OERbesiktas 5-1-1.003.