TILBURG – The winner of the regular season in the Dutch team league three-cushion is Cues&Darts. The Tilburg team won the match against Dallinga this Sunday with a colossal 8-0 and increased their lead over Aartsbouw to 5 points. Therefore, the top spot can no longer be jeopardized in the upcoming matches, ensuring Cues&Darts will definitely play in the championship final. The top favorite defeated Dallinga thanks to Ruben Legazpi, who outsmarted Peter De Backer 40-30 in 32 innings, Huub Wilkowski, winner against Joris van ’t Zelfden 40-32 in 31 innings, Therese Klompenhouwer against Koen Saver, and Joey de Kok against Berry Dallinga (40-38 in 42 innings).
The battle for the other three spots is still open. Four teams will fight for the remaining three positions in the final. Bousema kept their chances alive in a strong final sprint against RCN from Nieuwegein. Stefan Galla and Frans van Schaik seized the straw and defeated two Belgians with a final burst of energy.
Frans van Schaik, trailing 23-9 by a large margin, still managed to get past Henk Blauwblomme 40-38 in 35. Stefan Galla stayed one carom ahead of Philippe Vandendriessche at the finish line and secured the 6-2 victory for Bousema. Martin Horm, with relative ease, was able to claim the decisive match against Dave Christiani 40-22 in 18.
Most eyes this weekend were focused on the encounter between Cues&Darts and Dallinga, which was slightly diminished by the absence of two players from each team. The French Masters, for the team championship in that country, took up both Glenn Hofman and Jef Philipoom for Cues&Darts, while Jean Paul de Bruijn and Steven van Acker were missing from Dallinga. The home team in the Tilburg arena was least affected by this, or at least had the better substitutes. Therese Klompenhouwer was the embodiment of that strong squad at Tilburg. The women's champion played one of her best matches in the topleague and defeated Belgian Koen Saver 40-12 in 21 innings. Therese had done better before, once even 40 in 16 in Belgium, she later said. "Thanks to the team spirit, I can always peak for Cues&Darts. At home at Cues&Darts, I often play my best matches."
In this strong field of men, Therese proved to be one of the top players this day. Only Martin Horn did better for Bouseama in 18 innings. Dick Jaspers and Nick Polychronopoulos, world-class male players, finished just below Klompenhouwer, with the Greek winning 40-28 in 22 innings. That match between Polychronopoulos and Jaspers also marked a maximum victory. Team Eekhoorn defeated Paperclip 8-0 and climbs to third position in the standings as a result. For the camping team, Eddy Leppens won against Anno de Kleine (40-33 in 29), Jerry Hermans against Emilio Sciacca (40-34 in 35), and Kurt Ceulemans against Dan Breur (40-38 in 28).
Van Baal and Burgmans shared the win thanks in part to a strong performance by Sergio Jimenez for Van Baal against Davy van Havere (40-24 in 21) and Marco Janssen for Burgmans with a win over Rik van Beers (40-15 in 21). SIS Vervoort could not get past Harwig, because Rob Lamboo won against Raymund Swertz (40-29 in 34) and Theo Moes was just slightly better than Harrie van de Ven (40-37 in 32). Burgman and Van der Spoel were winners for SIS in 34 and 38 innings.
In the Kozoom league, the team ranked 11th is relegated: currently, that is Harwig or RCN Nieuwegein, who each have 7 match points. The team that had already been eliminated from the topleague was Babbelz. The team ranked 10th plays promotion/relegation against the best runner-up from the Second Division. Burgmans Biljarts is safe with 12 match points.
The runners-up from the Second Division are Cues&Darts 2, featuring Pierre Soumagne and Therese Klompenhouwer among others, and ’t Hartje, featuring Spoormans and Martens among others. They play one home and one away match against each other.
De Distel Biljarts/Groene Cijfers from Roosendaal and J&F Auto’s/New Jorissen from The Hague have already been promoted to the topleague.
The current standings in the Kozoom league:
1 Cues&Darts 19-30-1,409
2 Archbuilding 18-25-1.318
3 Team Squirrel 18-24-1,357
4 Dallinga 19-23-1.210
5 Bousema/JBS 18-22-1.383
6 Van Baal 18-18-1,236
7 SIS 18-17-1.287
8 Paper clip 18-15-1.190
9 Burgmans Biljarts 18-12-1.202
10 RCN Nieuwegein 18-7-1.102
11 Harwig 18-7-0.960.
The final matches on the weekend of May 2 and 3:
Saturday, May 2:
Bousema-Cues&Darts
RCN-Aartsbouw
Van Baal-Team Eekhoorn
Burgmans-Harwig
Paperclip-SIS
Sunday, May 3:
Dallinga-RCN
Aartsbouw-Bousema
Team Eekhoorn-Burgmans
SIS-Van Baal
Harwig-Paperclip.