3-Cushion
TURNHOUT/KORTRIJK - The Belgian three cushion league has six more rounds to play and the battle for the title has regained its tension. The leader, BC Deurne, is no longer the unbeatable team as in the first part, the gap is shrinking and the competition comes closer. This Monday evening, Deurne lost its third match in four weeks. Op de Meir defeated the defending champion 6-2 thanks to victories by Eddy Leppens, Barry van Beers and Ivan Stitschinsky. The most surprising matches of the sixteenth round? Peter Ceulemans started with 31 in 5 (9, 11 and 10), Dirk Weeremans was the better of Frans van Kuyk and Dave Christiani defeated Eddy Merckx.
Mister 100 Lier came through a victory over Kon. Eeklose at four points of the leader, De Goeie Queue, that won 6-2 against Mr. 100 Lier 2 on Tuesday, climbed to the second position, three points behind. Quality Zele and De Witte Molen also are still in the race for the top positions. Biljar Express lost his chances by another loss, now against De Witte Molen (6-2). BC Deurne went down in the away match against Op de Meir.
Jean van Erp (Deurne) and Ivan Stitschinsky (Op de Meir) kept the match in balance before the break. Barry van Beers then defeated Jef Philipoom 50-41 in 27 and Eddy Leppens signed for the maximum win by leaving Glenn Hoffman behind 50-42 in 30. Thanks to that home win, Op de Meir climbs to a position in the safe middle part, shared with Biljart Express and BC Herentals.
Peter Ceulemans had a flashy start in his match against Steven van Acker, but after 31 in 5 he lost his rhythm and finally won 50-37 in 22 (2.272). Raymond Ceulemans was a good second for his team with 42 in 33 against Freddy Staelens. Dave Christiani also had a great day in the Kortrijk home game against BC Quality. The Dutchman, not in a big form lately, restrained Eddy Merckx in an excellent match: 50-32 in 22. Gerwin Valentijn (13), Peter Ceulemans and Dave Christiani (both 11) scored the highest run of the evening. Kortrijk and Zele played the same: 4-4.
Roland Forthomme and Martin Horn drew against each other in 36 innings in the match Zanzibar-Herentals. The victor was for Zanzibar, 7-1, thanks to Kenny Miatton, Andy de Bondt and Jimmy Mues.
De Witte Molen had a promising start at Biljart Express: Ad Broeders, a multi-winner this year, was launched by 11-0 against Guy van Litsenborg and won 42-32 in 35. Pierre Soumagne bested Martin Spoormans (42-39 in 29 ). Gerwin Valentijn attacked after the break (25-23 in 16) with 13 against Francis Forton. Frans van Kuyk against Dirk Weeremans had a 10-9 in 4, 36-30 in 18. Then, at 45-45, after 7 from Van Kuyk, Weeremans finished with 5 van Van Kuyk scored a three in the equalizer: 50-48 in 31.
In the match De Goeie Queue-Mr 100 Lier 2, Caudron won in 27, De Bruijn in 36, Hermans in 43 and Tom Persyn (Mr 100) in 29 innings.
The ranking:
1 BC Deurne 16-24
2 Mr. 100 16-20
3 De Witte Molen 16-20
4 De Goeie Queue 15-19
5 Quality Zele 16-18
6 Op the Meir 16-17
7 Biljart Express 16-17
8 Herentals 16-17
9 Kortrijk 16-16
10 Zanzibar 16-12
11 Mr. 100 2 15-7
12 Eeklose 16-3.