TILBURG – Last year's champions in the Dutch team premier league have made an excellent start to the new competition. Cues&Darts leads the table after three rounds as the only team with the maximum match points. This Sunday, on the third day, the team won their match against one of their rivals: Zundert. Cues&Darts won 6-2, thanks in part to Glenn Hofman's 40-39 victory over Roland Forthomme in 24 innings and a strong Ruben Legazpi defeating Sam van Etten 40-28 in 17 innings. The top winners on the day were Berkay Karakurt for Team Babbelz, defeating Anno de Kleine 40-25 in 15 innings, and Harrie van de Ven for SIS, who defeated Frans van Schaik with a comfortable score 40-14 in 16 innings.
The topmatch on the bill between Frédéric Caudron and Dick Jaspers was won by the Belgian leader of Babbelz 40-31 in 21 innings. For Caudron, it was his third win in three rounds, while Jaspers lost his third match and is still double-blank for Paperclip.
Cues&Darts faced a tough opponent in Zundert, but finished the match impressively with Glenn Hofman's victory. Ruben Legazpi (40 in 17) and Joey de Kok (40 in 25) were the other winners, while Huub Wilkowski lost to Thorsten Frings. Aartsbouw/Domicili lost their top spot after losing 1-7 to Team Eekhoorn. Eddy Merckx earned the only point by drawing against Nick Polychronopoulos in 22 innings. For Eekhoorn, Peter Ceulemans (40-12 against Barry van Beers in 12 innings), Frans van Kuyk (40-36 in 34 against Wesley de Jaeger), and Jerry Hermans (40-37 in 33 against Ronny Brants) were the winners.
The top rankings are slowly forming, but are also closing in somewhat. Team Eekhoorn and Dallinga moved up to the top 5. Dallinga won its second home match 6-2, against Burgmans Biljarts. The only winner for the Burgmans boys was Bart Ceulemans, who defeated Peter De Backer, a renowned compatriot, 40-31 in 29 innings. Jean Paul de Bruijn, Steven van Acker, and Berry Dallinga won in 38, 29, and 46 innings, respectively.
Team Babbelz secured the victory over Paperclip in the top match thanks to Caudron, but also boasted a strong Berkay Karakurt. The Turk played a magnificent game against De Kleine in 15 innings. Dan Breur won for Paperclip against Davy van Havere 40-29 in 28 innings.
Bousema/JBScues and SIS/Vervoort shared the victory in Lochem. Martin Horn had a walkover against Jean van Erp 40-20 in 23 innings, while Johan Loncelle defeated Martien van der Spoel 40-35 in 27 innings for the home team. Harrie van de Ven's best winner of the afternoon was a formidable match against Frans van Schaik. Raimond Burgman secured the point for SIS with a 40-36 victory over Jeffrey Jorissen in 27 innings.
Harwig/OERbesitas pulled off a surprising 4-4 victory in Nieuwegein thanks to Andreas Niehaus, who defeated Dave Christiani in 34 innings, and Tobias Bouerdick, who defeated Philippe Vandendriessche in 37 innings. Gerwin Valentijn and Henk Blauwblomme were winners for RCN in 35 and 41 innings, respectively.
Standings after three rounds:
- Cues&Darts 6 match points
- Team Babbelz 5
- Team Eekhoorn 5
- Aartsbouw 4
- Dallinga 4
- RCN Nieuwegein 3
- Bousema 3
- STZ Zundert 2
- SIS/Vervoort 2
- Burgmans Biljarts 1
- Harwig OER/besitas 1
- Paperclip 0
Berkay Karakurt, brilliant winner for Babbelz
Harrie van de Ven, best Dutch player on average in third round