3-Cushion
UDEN - Dutch billiards is heading for a cycle of Survival tournaments in which, over three editions and one final tournament this year, between 50.000 and 70.000 euro prize money can be earned. That has been announced by Carl Verhoeven, owner of SIS Billiards Experience Centre, today. The tournaments are only accessible for Dutch billiards players and will be adjusted to the prevailing rules of COVID-19. The first requirement is that the KNBB (Dutch federation) gives permission for the organisations, but Carl Verhoeven surely hopes for cooperation. ''We have to wait and see whether the three cushion Section will decide on 28 February to cancel the team competition or possibly let it take place in half.
The Survivals cycle (the format originating in South Korea, with four players at the same time at one billiard and a special scoring system) is planned for 2021 and should have its first edition before the Dutch Masters (25-29 April, Berlicum). Depending on national, CEB and UMB calendars, the next tournaments will be held in June/July, September/October and December/January.
The pretentious plan of Carl Verhoeven will be further elaborated tomorrow, Saturday. The playing location is the SIS Billiards 'topsport centre' in Uden, where tomorrow (Saturday, February 20) a 3CC Survival will be organized as a trial, which can be seen live on Youtube. In this Survival Raimond Burgman, Jean van Erp, Raymund Swertz and the world champion Therese Klompenhouwer will perform. The Survival starts at 2 pm. As a test, an improvised scoring system is used: the regular caroms count, as in all Survivals, for 3 points, bank shots for 6 points and a second consecutive bank shot even for 9 points. ''We want to experiment, but not imitate the Korean PBA. For our tournaments, we want the lesser players to have more chances.''
The cycle of three or four Survival tournaments is interesting, especially if the competitions are cancelled. Carl Verhoeven: ''We have more opportunities, because we recently became one of the Topsport centres in the Netherlands. This means that we are not only allowed to organise training and education, but with permission also matches in the league under strict rules. We want, if we get the opportunity, very much to use that. We want to offer Dutch billiard players a platform in these times of crisis that affect us all. I am thinking about 64, 96 or even 128 players, only Dutch, but with one or two wildcards, for example, thinking of Eddy Merckx, because he is a player of our first team. The last event, which we call the main tournament, will be completed with the best 64 players. The budget is almost complete for the four tournaments. I estimate that the first winner will receive 3.000 euros and so on, the second winner 3.500 euros, the third winner 4.000 euros. The main tournament will be even more attractive with 12 to 15.000 euro for the winner, 10.000 for the runner-up and so on.''
The Brabant billiards promoter is mobilising the people who will give him advice and help with the organisation these days. ''We first need to know how the crisis develops and how the CEB and UMB will anticipate. I can imagine that the international calendars will get going again if there is a breakthrough in the COVID crisis soon.''
Meanwhile, Carl Verhoeven has approached the team captains of the Dutch teams in the premier league with the question, how they think about continuing the competition. ''I would like to stop the competition as far as we, from SIS, are concerned. I don't think it makes sense to play the remainder of the matches without spectators. So everything depends on the decision whether the billiard cafes can be reopened soon. I will communicate the reactions of the other team leaders to the Section. The decision of the Section will be made on 28 February: only then can we start to prepare our tournaments.''
The tournament format is already being prepared: the set-up is that two groups of four meet on one day. The two winners go on to the next round. The number of participants depends on how many people are allowed in the venue.
''I expect that the federation will cooperate and that we will get permission'', Verhoeven assures. ''In the end, we have to try to join forces. And if the Masters will be played, we certainly will be allowed to organise the events in our centre. Billiards has been stopped long enough now, we must do everything within our possibilities. The Duke Challenge was a good example. I want to continue with more events in our top sports centre.''