UDEN/OOSTERHOUT - For a number of players in the Dutch premier league, Sunday's ninth round of the Kozoom league is a final test and a final stop before heading for the World Cup in Sharm El Sheikh. Five Dutch players, Jeffrey Jorissen, Sam van Etten, Joey de Kok, Glenn Hofman and Volkan Cetin will be in action with their teams on Sunday before they leave in more than a week's time for the Egyptian tourist resort where the last World Cup this year will be played. The premier league makes a stop after Sunday until 17 December and after the 11th round of play on 23 December, the three-week winter break starts until 14 January.
Two of the top teams in the premier league meet on Sunday: after the top match at De Eekhoorn, SIS Schoonmaak plays Sunday at home against Cues&Darts, the number three in the rankings. A nice match in that meeting is the encounter between Eddy Merckx, almost unbeatable for many weeks now, and Glenn Hofman, Cues&Darts' leading man, who plays the World Cup in Sharm and wants to return to all World Cups next year. Another interesting match this Sunday is that with Jean van Erp, one of the match winners for SIS last week, against Ruben Legazpi.
SIS Schoonmaak defends its leading position after the 5-3 win over Team Eekhoorn. The leader is two points ahead of Eekhoorn and four over Cues&Darts and Topbiljart Zundert, who are followed on the rankings by Dekker/APSprundel and Bousema/Lochem.
Dekker plays a home match against Topbiljart Zundert, Dallinga against Bousema Lochem and in the lower regions, DKM Tools faces Team Nachtwacht.
This Sunday will also see a number of foreign players in action before leaving for Egypt a few days later for the World Cup, including Merckx, Horn, Legazpi, Peter Ceulemans, De Backer and Orak.
On Saturday, Dallinga plays a match against Team Nachtwacht forward that was scheduled for the 11th round, but that day the café in Sluiskil will be closed. The Zeeland team plays at 1pm this Saturday with Raymond Ceulemans in the team.
The schedule and line-ups for the Kozoom league this Sunday (all matches to be seen live on Kozoom from 13.00 Sunday afternoon).
Kozoom league play round 9:
SIS Schoonmaak-Cues&Darts/Xtreme
Eddy Merckx-Glenn Hofman
Jean van Erp-Ruben Legazpi
Raimond Burgman-Jef Philipoom
Martien van der Spoel-Volkan Cetin
Dekker/APSprundel-STZ Zundert
Dave Christiani-Sergio Jimenez
Barry van Beers-Thorsten Frings
Gerwin Valentijn-Sam van Etten
Henk Blauwblomme-Rik van Beers
Burgmans Biljarts-Team Eekhoorn
Anno de Kleine-Peter Ceulemans
Bart Ceulemans-Frans van Kuyk
Marco Janssen-Kurt Ceulemans
Johan Roijers-Jerry Hermans.
Dallinga.com-Bousema/JBScues
Jean Paul de Bruijn-Martin Horn
Steven van Acker-Jeffrey Jorissen
Peter De Backer-Johan Loncelle
Berry Dallinga-Stefan Galla
J&F Auto/New Jorissen-Aartsbouw Sprundel
Kay de Zwart-Turgay Orak
Joey de Kok-Ronny Brants
Therese Klompenhouwer-Dirk Weeremans
Herman van Daalen-Tom Persyn
DKM Tools-Team Nachtwacht
Dion Nelin-Erwin Kivits
Davy van Havere-Harrie van de Ven
Roland Uijtdewillegen-Frank Martens
Jack Wijnen-Frits Broeders.