Logonewstvcommunitystore

Game Icon3-Cushion

Bert van Manen: a hundred losses, one win

06/13/2015

Published by frits bakker

commentlinktwitterfacebook
thumbnail
© © Paul Brekelmans
Jean van Erp the winner, Bert van Manen the man of the tournament

ROSMALEN - This season is nearly as good as Jean van Erp's best. The player from Brabant today won the GP in Rosmalen, beating the tournament surprise, strong-playing Bert van Manen in the final: 40-35 in 31 innings. Jean van Erp also won the Masters this year (his best victory ever), but he stilll considers 2011 an even better year, with two GP victories, the Dutch team title with Van Donge & De Roo and the Belgian team title with De Ploeg.

As he was waiting for the bus this evening ("a few friends and we are going to have a beer in Den Bosch'') he looked back on all these good moments. And he also looked forward: the season is almost over. ,,My next tournament is the Crazy Billiards (a Jaspers initiative), next week. And two weeks from now I will play for the Portugese title, in a team with Jef Philipoom.''

Jean van Erp won his third GP in Rosmalen, against the man who shook up the tournament. Bert van Manen, writer of thought-provoking columns about billiards, usually a participant in the Masters but without ever shining there. Bert van Manen chose Rosmalen to play the best match in his Grand Prix career. In the semifinal, the player from Gelderland beat Dick Jaspers by a considerable margin: 40 - 22 in 20 innings. It was not only a very memorable win, it was also a match with - for him - a glorious average of 2.000.

He got out of the blocks much better than the multiple champion (18-8 in 13 innings), kept defending well which resulted in five consecutive misses for Jaspers in the crucial stages, and he ended strongly with 2, 3, 4 and 1. ,,What a day this has been'', Bert van Manen said later. ,,I've received some 150 congratulations online, and thirty or forty of those are from people I've never heard of.''

The semifinal match in De Hazelaar had the audience captivated, when at the other table there was more tension than pure quality. Jean van Erp and Jean Paul de Bruijn were neck and neck for a long time, and both had opportunities to grab the win. De Bruijn missed his match ball at 37 - 39, where van Erp did manage to score the final point: 40 - 39.

Bert van Manen looked to have a dead battery in the first half of the final, when he was outplayed 22-6 in 10 innings and 32-17 in 20. Jean van Erp: ,,I was home free basically, but then I started making unforced errors.'' It brought van Manen back into the match, when in the 26th and 27th inning he made little runs of 6 and 4. Van Erp regrouped in time and finished the job, with van Manen needing eight in the equalizer but only scoring three.

,,Jean's win was fully deserved, but so was mine in the semi against Dick'', said van Manen later. ,,No flukes at crucial moments, no easy starting positions all the time. It was a good, clean, convincing win.'' Was this his first victory over Jaspers? Bert: ,,Yes, the first in thirty years. I was close one time, in Belgium, when I lost 50 - 46. Other than that, nothing but a hundred losses without a chance.''

The final ranking of the Grand Prix in Rosmalen: (average, high run):

1 Jean van Erp 1.450-9
2 Bert van Manen 1.376-8
3 Dick Jaspers 1.913-12
4 Jean Paul de Bruijn 1.572-7
5 Raimond Burgman 1.705-13
6 Harrie van de Ven 1.359-11
7 Glenn Hofman 1.218-7
8 Frans van Schaik 0.983-8
9 Jeffrey Jorissen 1.415-8
10 Dave Christiani 1.274-9
11 Martien van der Spoel 1.082-10
12 Barry van Beers 1.072-10
13 Raymund Swertz 1.036-13
14 Ad Koorevaar 0.967-10
15 Wiljan van den Heuvel 0.64-5
16 Jeffrey van Nijnatten 0.843-6.

 

Comments