3-Cushion
ZUNDERT - How much tension can a billiard player tolerate when it comes to a battle for a place in the semi finals? Gerwin Valentijn had the victory for grabs in his match against Torbjörn Blomdahl tonight. It had been enough for Dekker Keukens to play in the semi finals tomorrow with Van Donge en De Roo, Crystal Kelly and Snellen Recycling.
But Torbjörn Blomdahl crept through the eye of a needle, in the decisive third set against Valentijn and closed a backlog of 10-5 to win 15-12.
Jef Philipoom had all chances at the other billiard to defeat Dick Jaspers. That win would bring Dekker Keukens in the top four as well, but when the Belgian had a 10-6 lead, Jaspers finished the match with a great run of nine.
Van Donge en De Roo had already won the group, thanks to the victory of Jaspers, Horn, Blomdahl and Van Erp the team brought Delta into the semi-finals. Eddy Leppens, Peter de Backer and Glenn Hofmann watched the denouement intently from the stands. The sigh of relief was heard in Zeeland.
Jef Philipoom shone especially in his second set against Jaspers tonight, which he won 15-2 in three innings after a run of ten in the first set. ,,We both didn't feel the table so well in the first set, then I took my chance, but it was not good enough against the wonderful run of Jaspers'', the Belgian said.
John Tijssens definitely didn't have his night against Martin Horn, he lost all his three sets against the excellent German, who played an average of 2.142 against Tijssens 0.950.
Jean van Erp wasn't in trouble against Hans van der Wurf of course (3-0), so there were only chances for Dekker at the billiards of Valentijn and Philipoom. Valentijn lost the first set, won the second 15-7 and dominated the third. On a score of 10-9 Blomdahl had a lucky shot and made a run of three, at the score of 12-12 the Swede finished the match with three.