3-Cushion
EMBLEM - The captain of the Op de Meir team, Barry van Beers, commented afterwards: "I have just seen one of the most bizarre matches ever." The winner himself, Ivan Stitschinsky, in that match against Koen Saver, called it a 'miraculous victory, with a euphoric feeling' after he not only won the thriller, but also the overall match for his team: Op de Meir defeated Bruges 6-2. BC Deurne remains the leader after eight rounds in the competition, Op de Meir is only one match point behind. "We have a shot at the title," assures Barry van Beers.
The match where it was mainly about that evening, between Ivan Stitschinsky (Op de Meir) and Koen Saver (Brugse), seemed to turn straight into a victory for the Bruges player. The situation after 30 innings: Koen Saver just had made his 41st carom, needed one more for the win and Stitschinsky, who missed the start, was at 18! What then unfolded in Marc Verhaegen's billiard café was a little miracle. To his big surprise, the home player saw his opponent miss, miss and miss on match point. And surely, Stitschinsky kept playing his all-or-nothing game himself, with small runs of 3, 4, 1, making the difference smaller and smaller. The score continued to 41-26, 41-31, 41-35 and Saver kept missing, in a rarely shown slump, even eleven times in a row. Sometimes in unfortunate, but for sure also in manageable positions. And then, Stitschinsky thought it was enough: with 5 and 2 he finished the match at a final score 41-42 (!!!).
Ivan Stitschinsky's comment: ''The match started for me with many difficult positions, until my opponent missed the match ball. I went to the billiards with the goal to make a few good points, to leave the table with a good feeling. I scored some small runs and finally got some feeling. And my opponent, Koen, who played a fantastic game until 41, totally lost his way. I made 15 points in my last 7 innings and won the race: one of the most wonderful and craziest wins in my career. And winning from a completely lost position, surely gives a euphoric feeling."
The unexpected win helped Op de Meir to the precious victory. Barry van Beers defeated Bart Leys 50-25 in 27, Peter De Backer secured the win against Henk Blauwblomme 42-30 in 20 and only Roland Uijtdewillegen lost against a strong playing Steven van Acker 50-37 in 33. The team average Op de Meir recorded was 1,305, slightly lower even than KBC Kortrijk, that won 8-0 against Masters: 1,483. And even better in this round was Biljart Express with 1.586 in the away match against De Ploeg, with an outstanding Eddy Merckx.
The top five in the Belgian league actually looks surprising with BC Deurne (15 points), Op de Meir (14), Biljart Express (11), Kortrijkse and De Leug, both 10 points.
Barry van Beers expects Op de Meir certainly to be among the contenders for the title. ,,With Peter De Backer we have done a big transfer. He is very important for us when Eddy Leppens sometimes can't play, like this week. I myself play better than in the Dutch league. Peter and I have only lost one match so far. We definitely started the competition to battle it out for the title."
BC Deurne, the leader, had a walk-over against De Witte Molen in the eighth round, which played below 1 on average with the whole team. The leader won 8-0. Davy van Havere was the best winner in the home team, which, with Jean van Erp, Ludo Dielis and Jerry Hermans, did not exceed 1 as a team average.
Biljart Express had two outstanding players in the team that won 8-0 in De Ploeg. Eddy Merckx defeated Jef Philipoom 50-38 in 21 (17-17, then Merckx from 47-37 to 50-38 and Philipoom missed from the spots). Gerwin Valentijn left Therese Klompenhouwer behind at 42-21 in 21 after a strong start and a 20-2 lead with runs of 9 in 6th and 10 in 14th inning.
KBC Kortrijk, looking back on an excellent league start, won 8-0 against Masters with a strikingly strong Dutch derby between Dave Christiani and John Tijssens: 50-46 in 22 innings. Christiani scored two times 12 in the 12th inning and in the last, the 22nd inning. ''I still had to give it all the way, because John followed me well until the end. ''
De Leug maintains its excellent position in the leading group due to the striking 8-0 victory over Mister 100, which had an off-day. Wesley de Jaeger outplayed Peter Ceulemans, with whom he travelled to the World Cup in Korea two weeks ago, 50-37 in 33 innings. Johan Loncelle (against Kurt
Ceulemans 50-43 in 28), Frank de Groof (against Raymond 42-37 in 35) and Lennaert Schrauwen (against Bart 42-40 in 55) were the other winners in team De Leug.