Davy van Havere on his way up again

DEURNE - When he wasn't even thirty years of age, Davy van Havere won the Belgian cup in a final against Eddy Merckx. The place to be was Hooglede in all those years that Reginald Depoorter was the man in charge and Davy van Havere seemed to be on his way to become a top player in Belgium. The reality now, seven years later, is that things have turned out differently because of the circumstances. Work and family were given priority over training and the ambition to grow further. "I certainly would have wanted it, but I chose a different path," says 36-year-old player in the team of front runner BC Deurne, who played a superb match in the league with 42 caroms in 16 innings this week.

With BC Deurne, Davy van Havere is on top of the ranking after three rounds, together with Op de Meir, which is also undefeated with six points from three games. "We didn't have really strong opponents so far, so actually, we were obliged to win these three matches," Van Havere concludes. His opponent, Werner Ooyen, in the match against Masters (8-0), never brought him in trouble. ''I started strong with 12, had 20 points in 4 and later another 5 and 4 towards the end.'' His opponent remained far behind with seven times 1 and nine times 0: 42-7 in 16.

Davy van Havere, who lives in Kalmthout near Essen, close to the Dutch border and is a fleet preparatory (human resources, wage calculations) at a large transport company, explains about his development as a billiard player: ''I never had the opportunity to live 100 percent for billiards. I had my work and my family, that was the reason: the combination is difficult to grow out to an absolute top player. But I am really proud of where I am now. In the last two years, we have done major renovations at home, which gave me some ups and downs in my sport, but now I feel a lot better at the billiard. I think all my opponents have respect for me, both top players and mid class players. Of course I would have liked to grow further, but it's only for a few players. Then you must give it all for your sport. And without financial guarantees, that was too big a gamble for me."

With BC Deurne, he is certainly a serious candidate for the title in Belgium. ''We want to compete with Biljart Express for the top position as long as possible.'' Deurne defeated Masters this week, apart from Van Havere, Glenn Hofman (50 in 58 innings), Jean van Erp (50 in 46) and Ludo Dielis (42) were the winners in the team.

Op de Meir is following in Deurne's track after the 6-2 victory over Mr. 100 Lier 1. Barry van Beers won the match against Peter Ceulemans 50-42 in 35, Iwan Stitschinsky defeated Bart Ceulemans (42-28 in 38), Peter De Backer beat Raymond Ceulemans (42-30 in 27) and only Kurt Ceulemans was successful for his team against Roland Uijtdewillegen (50-43 in 46). Biljart Express beat Herentals with the maximum score: 8-0 with a strong Frans van Kuyk on table one, who beat Christian Rudolph 50-32 in 29, among others with runs of 13, 7 and 8. Gerwin Valentijn beat Geert Meylemans (50 -30 in 28), Martin Spoormans was the better of of Leon Smolders (42-27 in 27) and Guy van Litsemborg completed the maximum score.

Four teams are on three match points after Deurne (6 points), Op de Meir (6) and Biljart Express (5): De Witte Molen, KBC Kortrijk, De Ploeg and De Leug. The two Mister 100 teams gathered 2 points out of 3, Masters is at 1 point, KBC Brugse is without points.

De Leug won the match against De Witte Molen 5-3 by wins of Johan Loncelle (50-43 against Broeders in 32) and Lennart Schrauwen against Claessen (42-26 in 50), Frank de Groof and Sam van Etten played a draw and Francis Forton won the match on centre court against Wesley de Jaeger 50-39 in 35. KBC Kortrijk recorded a home win at KBC Brugse thanks to Dave Christiani over Bart Leys (50-23 in 28), Martin Ravestyn against Henk Blauwblomme (42-34 in 28) and Frédéric Beghin against Koen Saver in 46 innings. Steven van Acker was the only winner for Bruges against Ronny Brants (50-23 in 48).

BC De Ploeg and Mr. 100 Lier played a 4-4 tie with Eddy Willems and Erwin Hens as the best winners (42 in 31).