LIER/BRUGGE - The World Cup in Sharm El Sheikh had been exchanged for the Mister 100 arena in Lier. Peter Ceulemans and Roland Forthomme just returned from a successful event in Egypt and faced each other in the Belgian league this Monday evening. Mister 100 won the home match against Herstalien 5-3, Peter Ceulemans showed his top form and beat Roland Forthomme 40-20 in 19 innings. The Mister 100 team ran out one match point on top, because Den Eik drew 4-4 against De Witte Molen.
The entire 11th round has now been played, so that the rankings with 12 teams exactly halfway reflect the correct picture. Mister 100 leads with 17 points ahead of Den Eik with 16, Herstalien with 14, Biljart Express with 13 and De Leug with 12. Reigning champion Op de Meir is at 11 points, the same as Kortrijkse. The teams play one more time next week before the winter break in the league.
Peter Ceulemans and Roland Forthomme returned from the World Cup in Sharm with nice memories. The two Belgians survived the session with the best 32, in which Ceulemans finished second in his group of four following Dick Jaspers and Roland Forthomme second following Quyet Chien Tran. The first knock-out, with 16, was the finishing point for both. Peter Ceulemans was beaten 50-27 in 14 by a fantastic playing Tran (runs of 22 and 13), Roland Forthomme went out against Jaspers 50-35 in 26/25. On Monday evening, in the match against each other, Ceulemans was by far the strongest with 40-20 in 19. For Mister 100, Kurt Ceulemans won from Frédéric Mottet 40-35 in 39 and Jerry Hermans played a draw against Dany Boutet 40-40 in 38.
Den Eik, without Jean van Erp, played a 4-4 draw in its home match against De Witte Molen, putting the team one point behind leader Mister 100, which itself won against Herstalien and put that team three points down. For Den Eik, Eddy Merckx won the match against Tom Löwe 40-10 in 20.
KBC Kortrijk won with the maximum score against Mister 100 2, including an excellent Philippe Vandendriessche. KBC Brugse won 6-2 against Op de Meir, thanks to wins by Steven van Acker against Jef Philipoom (40-38 in 28), Henk Blauwblomme against Barry van Beers (also 40-38 in 28) and Koen Saver against Ivan Stitschinsky (40-29 in 35). Driebandenclub De Leug and Billiard Promotion played ahead last week and shared the win (4-4). Biljart Express won the away match against TBA 0-8 with Frans van Kuyk the best man against Kay de Zwart (40-27 in 21).
This week will end in Belgium the BTS tournament in Bruges, where 16 players are still in the race for the final win. Four matches will be played tomorrow, Wednesday, the remaining four are on Thursday.
Those matches are:
Wednesday: Davy van Havere-Martin Spoormans, Steven van Acker-Peter Ceulemans, Philip Vandendriessche-Mik Durwael, Bart Leys-Eddy Merckx.
Thursday: Ronny Brants-Dirk Weeremans, Francis Forton-Dirk Blauwblomme, Roland Forthomme-Andy de Bondt, Koen Saver-Jef Philipoom.
Following those matches are the quarter-finals on both days. The semi-finals and final are on Friday 16 December.
The ranking on top of the Belgian competition:
1 Mister 100 11-17
2 Den Eik 11-16
3 Herstalien 11-14
4 Billiard Express 11-13
5 De Leug 11-12
6 Op de Meir 11-11
7 Kortrijkse 11-11
8 Bruges 11-10
9 Promotion Team 11-9
10 De Witte Molen 11-8
11 Mister 100 2 11-6
12 Billiardpalace 11-5.