3-Cushion
The teams Dekker/AP and Bousema still want to pull off a last stunt in the Dutch premier three-cushion league in the next three matches. The top four in the race for places in the play-offs have a fairly comfortable lead, but Topbiljart Zundert and Cues&Darts in particular are certainly not yet out of reach for the numbers five and six. Topbiljart Zundert has four points ahead of its rivals, Cues&Darts three points. Next weekend, the 19th round of 22 in total will be played. And there is also plenty of tension at the bottom of the Kozoom league.
SIS Schoonmaak, which is already sure of the playoffs, travels to Cues&Darts in Tilburg in the line-up with Eddy Merckx, Jean van Erp, Raimond Burgmans and Martien van der Spoel. Cues&Darts will field two Dutchmen with Glenn Hofman and Huub Wilkowski and two foreign players with Ruben Legazpi and Pierre Soumagne. A high-quality match will thus be fought out at the Tilburg venue on Sunday.
Team Eekhoorn, which still needs 1 point and is playing without Nikos Polychronopoulos this time, will come into action at home against Burgmans Biljarts. The opponent is still battling to maintain and puts Eddy Leppens in as its leader.
Topbiljart Zundert, number 3, does play the home match against Dekker next Friday because of a death in the Havermans family.
Bousema Lochem hosts Dallinga's team. For Bousema, Martin Horn is not yet able to play and Jeffrey Jorissen is front man. That means the two players of the Dutch team at the World and European Championship nations, Jeffrey Jorissen and Jean Paul de Bruijn, play against each other this time.
Aartsbouw Sprundel, together with Team Nachtwacht the number last with 10 points, plays at home against J&F Auto's, which is still fighting for precious match points with a three-point lead. Aartsbouw, next year's team with Eddy Merckx as leader, will be in action with Turgay Orak, who plays against Murat Gökman.
Finally, the derby and match in the lower parts between Team Nachtwacht and DKM Tools will be played. DKM Tools has moved up to 8th place, which is not yet a certainty. Team Nachtwacht has three more games to move away from the last places. The ghost of relegation haunts the Oosterhout billiard arena.
The teams and line-ups:
Cues&Darts/Xtreme-SIS Schoonmaak
Glenn Hofman-Eddy Merckx
Ruben Legazpi-Jean van Erp
Pierre Soumagne-Raimond Burgman
Huub Wilkowski-Martien van der Spoel
Team Eekhoorn-Burgmans Biljarts
Peter Ceulemans-Eddy Leppens
Frans van Kuyk-Anno de Kleine
Kurt Ceulemans-Marco Janssen
Jerry Hermans-Johan Roijers.
Bousema/JBScues-Dallinga.com
Jeffrey Jorissen-Jean Paul de Bruijn
Johan Loncelle-Steven van Acker
Stefan Galla-Peter De Backer
Frans van Schaik-Berry Dallinga
Aartsbouw Sprundel-J&F Auto’s/New Jorissen
Turgay Orak-Murat Gökmen
Ronny Brants-Kay de Zwart
Dirk Weeremans-Joey de Kok
Tom Persyn-Therese Klompenhouwer
Team Nachtwacht-DKM Tools
Erwin Kivits-Birol Uymaz
Harrie van de Ven-Dion Nelin
Frank Martens-Ronny Lindemann
Frits Broeders-Davy van Havere