EMBLEM - Op de Meir's victory in the Belgian team competition against Mister 100 has closed the bunch in the top of the rankings. For the 9th round of play, Op de Meir won the home match against Mr 100 by 6-2 including Jef Philipoom’s win over Peter Ceulemans and by Barry van Beers over Kurt Ceulemans. That brings the Op de Meir team two points behind Herstalien with 14 match points, taking a lead over Biljart Express and Mister 100.
Jef Philipoom, like Peter Ceulemans back from the World Cup in Korea for over a week, demonstrated excellent form in the match with Op de Meir. Peter Ceulemans led 6-2 in the third inning when Philipoom opened the attack with a magnificent run of 16 (18-6). That margin remained on the scoreboard, as Philipoom held the 16-point lead in the final score: 40-24 in 24. The victory eventually brought success for the team, because Barry van Beers won against Kurt Ceulemans 40-29 in 18 (2.222, run 13) and Roland Uijtdewillegen was the better of Jerry Hermans (40-30 in 29), keeping the match points in Op de Meir's home ground. Bart Ceulemans only saved the honor for Mr 100 by winning over Wesley de Jaeger 40-24 in 27.
The league is close to the halfway point with three teams on a three-point margin. Herstal, the leader with 16 points, travels to TBA next week for the tenth day of play. Biljart Express triumphed for the ninth round over De Leug 7-1. Eddy Merckx and Jeffrey Jorissen drew in 28 innings, the other three matches went to wins for Biljart Express. Frans van Kuyk was the best winner with 40-32 in 22 innings against Davy van Havere. Dave Christiani gave Therese Klompenhouwer only few chances (40-15 in 23) and Martin Spoormans beat Mik Durwael 40-32 in 34.
Steven van Acker is in an outstanding period in Belgium and the Netherlands. The West Fleming won with Bruges in the match against De Ploeg against Ronny Lindemann 40-21 in 17 innings. The 6-2 for the Brugge team signed off further by Henk Blauwblomme and Koen Saver with wins in 25 and 51 innings.