3-Cushion
HERENTALS/ LIER/LEUVEN - Two of the teams that were mentioned as the main contenders for a top ranking in the Belgian league, didn't shine with a good start. BC Herentals with its Germans Martin Horn and Christian Rudolph suffered two defeats in the first two weeks. Op de Meir, with Eddy Leppens as the leader, is also without any points after two weeks after the team was beaten by Biljartvrienden and BC Deurne.
Martin Horn started with a draw in the first round draw against Torbjörn Blomdahl, but was knocked down by an unleashed Roland Forthomme, who passed the finish line after fifteen innings on Monday (50-31), therefore leading his team of Zanzibar to a 6 2 victory.
The competition has turned more or less upside down with Op de Meir and Herentals at the bottom of the ranking. The Belgian champion Leppens has some unlucky weeks in the Belgian league, where he played two draws with goed averages: the first week against Raimond Burgman and this week against Torbjörn Blomdahl 50-50 at 22. In the Netherlands, Leppens even lost two times, both against Eddy Merckx and Gerwin Valentijn.
De Goeie Queue and BC Deurne top the ranking after two weeks with the maximum points. Zanzibar, De Witte Molen and Biljartvrienden are one point down. Forthomme was by far the best player in the second week (15 innings, 3.333 average), ahead of Gerwin Valentijn (21 innings), Blomdahl and Leppens (22), Francis Forton (23) and Jean van Erp (42 in 21 innings) .
The match between De Goeie Queue and De Ploeg was marked by only one exciting game, between Jean Paul de Bruijn and Therese Klompenhouwer. De Bruijn took a 23-18 lead after twenty innings, then Therese fought back and even took a 37-30 advantage. In the final part, De Bruijn used his experience to strike: he made the twelve missing points when Therese only scored one time. Frédéric Caudron and Eddy Merckx finished for the leader in thirty and 38 innings. Caudron closed the match against Jaak Wijnen with nine, his opponent scored a seven from the spots (50-27).
BC Deurne prevailed on three tables against Op de Meir: only Blomdahl and Leppens went side by side over the finish line. For the Swede it was his second draw in two weeks after his draw against Horn last week. Jef Philipoom defeated Barry van Beers (50-39 in 23), Jean van Erp payed an excellent match against Roland Uytdewillegen (42-38 in 21) and Davy van Havere defeated Ivan Stitschinsky 42-40 in 40.
Zanzibar, with its key player Roland Forthomme, took two other matches by Dave Christiani (35 innings against Christian Rudolph, 50-34) and Jimmy Mues (42-33 against Geert Meylemans).
BC Biljart Express can't look back on a convincing start: after the 5-3 victory over Roeselaere on the first day, Frans van Kuyk and his team now were beaten by Mister 100. Van Kuyk himself had no chance against Peter Ceulemans (50- 30 in 28), Raymond Ceulemans outplayed Martin Spoormans (42-25 in 30) and Bart Ceulemans defeated Guy van Litsenborg (42-41 in 53).
Francis Forton and Glenn Hofman were outstanding leaders in the Witte Molen team against De Ploeg 2. Forton defeated Eddy Willems 50-26 in 23, Hofman knocked down the German Dustin Jäschke 50-25 in 34. Raimond Burgman and John Tijssens were the winners for Biljartvrienden against Steven van Acker and Cédric Melnytschenko: 29 and 28 innings, 1.724 and 1.785 average.
Torbjörn Blomdahl, on this picture during the Guri World Cup, started the league in Belgium with two draws