Raimond Burgman as last to best eight

ZUNDERT - The eight finalists for the quarters finals of the Christmas tournament are known. Raimond Burgman (47) has seeded as last for the main tournament this afternoon. The Dutch top three player defeated in his final group match home player Jeffrey van Nijnatten 50-37 in 44 innings. That was enough to finish as second behind Eddy Merckx. Peter Ceulemans lost his last group match against Merckx 50-43 in 41.


Eddy Merckx starred in the last phase with a run of fifteen. ,,Thereafter, I had some chances to win the game'', said Ceulemans, who spoiled his place in the final rounds by a loss against Burgman on the first day.

Raimond Burgman reached the semifinals one time, nineteen years ago, when Torbjörn Blomdahl won the tournament and Sang Chun Lee finished in top three. Burgman once won the pentathlon in Zundert in 1988.

The best player in the group matches was Eddy Merckx, who gathered six match points, had an average of 1.829 and a run of fifteen. Martin Spoormans also finished with the maximum points and an average of 1.630. Frédéric Caudron was second in average (1.764), but wasted a match point against Barry van Beers.

The group winners and the second players in the group were
Group A: 1 Caudron, 2 Van Beers
Group B: 1 Leppens, 2 Van de Ven
Group C 1 Spoormans, 2 Forthomme
Group D: 1 Merckx, 2 Burgman.

The quarter-finals:
17.00: Caudron-Van de Ven, Van Beers-Leppens
19.00: Forthomme-Merckx, Burgman-Spoormans