3-Cushion
BERCULO - The team boss Dinand Prinsen, who has been chasing a first big prize for a long time, could finally cheer on the Dutch cup. The HCR Prinsen team received the trophy this Sunday evening at the Benelux Theater in Berlicum after the victory over STZ Zundert, the dethroned cup winner. The final in the JUMBO cup final ended in a rare exciting climax. Dick Jaspers and Eddy Leppens finished off the games against Roland Forthomme and Peter Ceulemans with a hard-fought win. The result: the final score in the final match was 6-2 after the equal score at the break.
The tournament, which started with eight teams, went to a final day with four teams, which were left from the qualifying phase. HCR Prinsen, STZ Zundert, Team Eekhoorn and L&B Ledermode competed for the podium places on Sunday. The light purple brigade of Dinand Prinsen had the longest breath, after the team first defeated Team Eekhoorn in the semi-finals. STZ Zundert won in the other semi-final against the reigning Dutch champion L&B Ledermode. The second cup victory in a row escaped to the Brabant players, HCR Prinsen had never won a title or the cup.
Dinand Prinsen, the driving force behind this success, was thrilled with the victory. "We have been close to a huge prize a few times, now we have finally succeeded", beamed the Haarlo hotel and restaurant boss. ''The team has become stronger after being promoted to the premier league five years ago, most of all because Dick Jaspers and Eddy Leppens joined the team. We do not yet know where we will come out the next season. Torbjörn Blomdahl is added as a reinforcement. The question is how many matches he and Dick Jaspers can play with their busy international program. And to miss also Eddy Leppens, who will be suspended, we will sometimes start with a modest line-up, but most important now is that we have this cup in our hands. "
Dick Jaspers: ''We are especially happy for Dinand and Alie (Prinsen) that we can give them this great cup. They are heartily awarded, you can also see that looking at the other players and the audience here. It was exciting in the final until the end, because we were slightly behind in caroms and after the 2-2 at the break, we had to win the last two matches. Fortunately we did that."
Dick Jaspers himself played a leading role, after he had lost the first set to Roland Forthomme 15-13 in 9 innings. Then, it became a wear and tear match in the second set: when Jaspers trailed 9-6, he finished the game with 9 in the ninth inning. In the third and decisive set, Jaspers started with 12 (so that he made 21 caroms without missing). ''Still, I needed a few innings, because I got a few impossible balls.'' The win came at 15-10 in 6 innings.
Eddy Leppens and Peter Ceulemans were also at 1-1 in sets at that time. The Belgian clash was saved for the climax. Ceulemans took an 8-4 lead, Leppens started the counter attack with a run of 9 to 13-8 in his favor. The winning carom, good for the cup win, came at 15-10 in the tenth inning.
Barry van Beers won his match against Anno de Kleine before the break 2-1 (15-10 in 15, 1-15 in 2, run of 9, 15-2 in 5). Raymund Swertz defeated Roland Uijtdewillegen 2-1 (15-14 in 21, 12-15 in 18, 15-4 in 8).
Paul Brekelmans, on behalf of the KNBB Section and the organizers of B.E.N gave many thanks afterwards. The JUMBO cup final was played for the first time, to everyone's satisfaction, at the Benelux Theater in Berlicum.
Dick Jaspers, the world champion, leading player on the team of the cup winners