Top position is almost safe in premier league

OOSTERHOUT - The Oosterhout clash in the premier Dutch three-cushion league, the Kozoom league, casts its shadow ahead: this Sunday, the Babbelz and Eekhoorn teams meet in the 17th round of play. The top position seems secure. Babbelz counts five points ahead with six matches to go. Jerry Hermans, Sunday's opponent of Babbelz with Team Eekhoorn, observes: ’’Nobody will catch up with them anymore. They started better and played better.‘’ The Eekhoorn team boss backs it up with figures. ‘’Babbelz has won against their three rivals 8-0, that says it all.‘’ So really, Sunday is mainly about the battle for second place, for which Team Eekhoorn, Cues&Darts and STZ Zundert are the main contenders.

The four top teams will play the play-offs at the end of the regular league. Team Babbelz, if it beats Team Eekhoorn thiss Sunday, is almost certain of that play-offs. Team Eekhoorn, Cues&Darts and Zundert go into the final series of matches with all three 22 points. Babbelz and Eekhoorn meet in strong line-ups on Sunday. Jerry Hermans: ’’The room at Babbelz should be well full, because we face a wonderful match. We will also put a big screen in De Eekhoorn just to be sure, because even though we are only ten kilometers away from each others, all the fans still want to watch the games.‘’

 The line-ups are hardly surprising, so Babbelz with Caudron, Karakurt, Bulut and Van Havere. Eekhoorn will play with Polychronopoulos, Peter Ceulemans, Van Kuyk and Kurt Ceulemans. The other two chasers on the leading positions both play an away match. Cues&Darts travels to Aartsbouw and faces considerable opposition. Glenn Hofman faces Eddy Merckx, who once again showed his top form in France this week, Ruben Legazpi faces Turgay Orak, Jef Philipoom plays against Ronny Brants and Joey de Kok against Wesley de Jaeger. STZ Zundert will try to keep up in the away match against Paperclip, where Dick Jaspers is the leader and will face Sergei Jimenez.

The tension at the bottom is mainly focused on the tenth position, because J&F Auto's and De Biljartacademie are well behind. With 12 points, Dallinga must try to play itself into the safe zone, where Paperclip and Aartsbouw are still most in sight. Dallinga meets J&F Auto's in an away match and could therefore run further ahead of the Hague side again. Mikaël Devogelaere is front man for J&F, Jean Paul de Bruijn for Dallinga. The Zeeland team will be reinforced in the coming weeks by Sameh Sidhom, who will play for at least three matches.

Peter Ceulemans

RCN Nieuwegein-SIS/Vervoort

Dave Christiani-Jean van Erp

Barry van Beers-Raymon Burgman

Gerwin Valentijn-Raymund Swertz

Henk Blauwblomme-Harrie van de Ven

Barry van Beers

Paperclip-Zundert

Dick Jaspers-Sergei Jimenez

Anno de Kleine-Sam van Etten

Cédric Melnytschenko-Rik van Beers

Dan Breur-Francis Forton

Sam van Etten

De Biljartacademie-Bousema/JBSCues

Roland Forthomme-Martin Horn

Danny Boutet-Jeffrey Jorissen

Thomas Broux-Johan Loncelle

Roy Zielemans-Stefan Galla

Martin Horn

Aartsbouw-Cues&Darts

Eddy Merckx-Glenn Hofman

Turgay Orak-Ruben Legazpi

Ronny Brants-Jef Philipoom

Wesley de Jaeger-Joey de Kok

Ruben Legazpi

J&F Auto’s-Dallinga

Mikaël Devogelaere-Jean Paul de Bruijn

Kay de Zwart-Peter De Backer

Herman van Daalen-Bart Ceulemans

Jordy de Kruijf-Berry Dallinga.

Mikael Devogelaere