OOSTERHOUT - Who would have predicted that Frans van Schaik and Danny Molier would provide a happy and for their TOVV/Royal Pro team in the group matches at the Jumbo Cup final. And that Eureka Billard, the Dutch champion, would already be out of the tournament on the before the final day. We can even say that the champions were knocked down in the group by Buffalo.nl and TOVV/Royal Pro. Two wins, one more to go, the job seemed to be done. But look what happens on the third and last day of the preliminary rounds. Eureka loses 6-2 to Buffalo.nl and has to leave the stage.
TOVV/Royal Pro was in an upper mood, of course, after the exclusion of Frans van Schaik on Thursday evening. And Buffalo.nl was sky high, because after such a poor start, the team recovered so well. Most of all for Jeffrey Jorissen, the undisputed best man of the team. Roland Forthomme was another star of these pre-tournament with a win over Davy van Havere, Frédéric Caudron and Murat Naci Coklu (1,956, 1,853 and 2,143).
Buffalo.nl and TOVV/Royal Pro so were launched for the semi-finals of the Jumbo Cup final, Eureka Billard is out. The other two finalists are Medisch Centrum Breda and Dallinga.com. The Brabant team remained undefeated, with five match points, the Zeeuws team took the place in the final round as a sniper, due to a heavy-fought victory over 't Hartje. Frédéric Caudron, Jean Paul de Bruijn and Steven van Acker closed the preliminary rounds with a win. The fourth man of Dallinga, Patrick Vasseur or Bart Ceulemans, for the moment are the problem-players when the the team wants to make a bid for the cup.
The tournament went upside down for Buffalo after the Hagenaars lost 6-2 from TOVV on the first day. The recovery was first seen against BC Arnhem (8-0) and on Friday against Eureka Billard, which was beaten by 6-2. Jeffrey Jorissen was the big man with three wins, twice with 1.607 and in the last match 1,571. Jean van Erp was also excellent against Raimond Burgman, whom he defeated 3-0 and Glenn Hofman topped it off against Dave Christiani 2-1 (1.615 / 1.160).
TOVV had its day of glory with the 8-0 win over BC Arnhem. Birol Uymaz, Martin Spoormans and Richard Bitalis won all three with 2-1, but then Danny Molier was put under pressure, because he had to beat Martijn Egbers. He lost the first set 15-8 in 24, won the second in a very poor match 5-9 in 29, but suddenly found his flow. In the decisive set, that could bring TOVV to the semi-finals, Molier excelled with a seven in the fifth innish (10-6) to finish three innings later 15-10 (eight).
What went wrong actually with Eureka Billard, the big contender? Dave Christiani was not good (two losses), Raimond Burgman did not perform well, not at all in the one-way-match against Glenn Hofman and John Tijssens, after a good start, was punished two times in his next by Frans van Schaik and Jeffrey Jorissen. And how bad could it be: Frans van Schaik's win over Tijssens, was decisive for the qualification of his team, by which he was thrown out of the tournament.
Medical Center Breda, with Raymon Groot as a poor number four, closed the stage with a draw against Bousema. Roland Forthomme and Barry van Beers were good for wins over Murat Naci Coklu and Markus Galla, although Van Beers just survived 15-14 in the decisive set.
In Dallinga's team, Steven van Acker was most convincing with 1.500, Caudron knocked Koorevaar down, but won a set of 15-14 and lost one to one carom. Patrick Vasseur lost 2-1 against Wim van Cromvoirt, Jean Paul de Bruijn remained undefeated against Frank Martens, but also needed two 15-14 wins.
The semi finals for Saturday at 11.00 in De Bussel in Oosterhout:
Medical Center Breda-TOVV/Royal Pro
Buffalo.nl-Dallinga.com
The rankings in the groups:
Group A:
1 Buffalo.nl 3-4-1.222-11 (16 batch points)
2 TOVV / Royal Pro 3-4-1.020-9 (16 batch points)
3 Eureka Billiards 3-4-1.080-8 (14 party points)
4 BC Arnhem 3-0-0.850-9
Group B:
1 MC Breda 3-5-1.400-12
2 Dallinga.com 3-4-1.120-7
3 Bousema Lochem 3-2-1.201-13
4 't Hartje / Van Wanrooy 3-1-1.040-8.
Jeffrey Jorissen, best man in team Buffalo
Birol Uymaz, in the final rounds with TOVV/Royal Pro