HAARLO - The national top of junior players gathers on this early Saturday morning for two days of the Dutch three cushion championship. The venue is HCR Prinsen, BV Ellenkamp, eight players take a shot at the national title, divided for the first selection into two groups of four players. The first question that arises is: can Zeeland's promise Joris van 't Zelfden repeat the stunt he pulled off last year? Or will North Holland player Tom Slikker say farewell to his junior years with one last trick?
But also: what can the rest of the field of players under 22 years do to stop these two contenders and take the title for themselves in the Haarlo billiard stronghold where Dinand and Ali Prinsen ruled for years? There, in this place, the championship will be launched today (Saturday 5 March) and tomorrow, Sunday, it will go to the finals.
The participants are:
Group A:
Nick Dudink (Blokker)
Xavier Siahaya (Geleen)
Andy Nab (Homoet)
Sebas Lenting (Denekamp)
Group B:
Joris van 't Zelfden (Driewegen)
Tom Slikker (Den Helder)
Twan Vriens (Wormer)
Joeri Wilkowski (Sint Michielsgestel).
Joris van 't Zelfden crowned himself champion last year after an unexpected showdown. Tom Slikker was already champion once before and is therefore also among the two favorites. Sebas Lenting and Joeri Wilkowski are two very young talents, who follow a training course of the KNBB section three-cushion.
The result of this Dutch championship will be processed in the ranking, which will be used for the delegation to international events.
The official opening is at 10.30 am, the first matches are on this Saturday morning from 11.00 am.
The matches will be broadcasted on kozoom.com
Dinand Prinsen on behalf of the organisation and Paul Brekelmans on behalf of the KNBB are the contact persons.
The referees are: W. Berendsen, R. Peters and the ladies Sabine Bakker and Christel van Renkum.
The group matches are to 25 caroms. The numbers 1 and 2 in the groups qualify for the cross finals (to 30 points).
The tournament is played with a limit of two times the number of caroms, with a shot clock of 40 seconds.