3-Cushion
SAS VAN GENT - Glenn Hoffman, still young and very talented, was much better than the veteran Jef Philipoom on day one of the competition in the Dutch three cushion leage. The even younger Jens van Dam won the important match for his team against Addy Wienk and Kay de Zwart defeated the Belgian Henk Blauwblomme.
Raymon Groot, the youngest player in this playing round, beat Marcel van Lieshout, but in some matches there the young guys in the competition had a start with a loss, like Raymund Swertz, who could not match at all with Jean Paul de Bruijn and Henk Habraken, finishing his match with his not so very young opponent, Harrie van de Ven with a nice final run of twelve.
The highlights of the first day?
Eddy Leppens who beats Stefan Galla in the best match of the matchday (19 innings), bringing his team MCR/De Uitspanning to a 7-1 win.
Peter Ceulemans, who was trailing hopeless against Ad Koorevaar (49-36), but dashed off with two final runs: ten and four to 50-49.
Jean van Erp also faced a big disadvantage against Gerwin Valentijn (39-21) and won the match 50-45.
AEJ/Dallinga showed its ambitions directly in the first match with maximum numbers against Prinsen 8-0.
Glenn Hoffman, who attacked from 9-9 in 10 innings against Philipoom, twice a 7-run to 23-9 in 12 and closing the match with four at 36-22.
Pressplate-Machielse.fa which is also on top with the maximum 8-0 score against De Terp-Capelle.
Post Luchtkanalen debuts with a nice 7-1 win in the away match against Van Wanrooy.
The competition has two leaders after the first round with the maximum score. The star team of showed its status with a flawless start, marked by victories for Frédéric Caudron (50-31 in 28 agains Anno de Kleine), Dick Jaspers (50-22 in 20 against Markus Galla), Eddy Merckx (50-24 in 27 vs Michel Silfhout) and Jean Paul de Bruijn (50-16 in 29 vs Raymund Swertz).
Pressplate ran away to 4-0 at the break thanks to Raymon Groot and the and Peter Ceulemans' final runs. Barry van Beers defeated in his match after the break Emilio Sciacca in a strong performance (50-31 in 26 innings). Roland Forthomme against Martin Spoormans were only playing for 6-2 or 8-0. The two semi-finalists in the Superprestige, one day earlier, could not show their good form on Sunday: the match turned out into Forthomme's win 50-47 in 53 innings.
Biljartcafé Jorissen achieved an important win against one of the competitors for the playoffs. John Tijssens was the only winner for De Distel before the break (50-48 against Jeffrey Jorissen in 31), all the other matches were won by the home team in The Hague.
Reseda from Sas van Gent, the former 's Lands Welvaren, had an excellent start at home against A1 Biljarts. Francis Forton was the only home player with a loss, against Raimond Burgman 50-35 in 33.
Ronnie Daniels, Kay de Zwart and Jens van Dam kept the maximum match points in Sas van Gent in a mental struggle until the end.
Post Luchtkanalen, the second debutant (with HCR Prinsen) had a promising start in Oosterhout. Martin Horn (50-42 against Kurt Ceulemans in 33 innings), Davy van Havere against Frank Martens (50-28 in 28) and Henk Habraken against Harrie van de Ven (50-28 in 37) took along the win to Rosmalen.