3-Cushion
NIEUWEGEIN - The COVID-19 measures of the government in the Netherlands last Tuesday evening, with all consequences and its social aspects, have hit a big part of the sport federations, clubs and individuals particularly hard. The amateur sports are among the main victims, cafes and restaurants have to close for four weeks. That means for billiards in Netherlands that the competitions, tournaments and pre-round matches are cancelled directly by the KNBB for four weeks. Ad Klijn, administrator of the national billiard office, made a rough estimate that about 9,000 matches have been shut down for next four weeks.
The first major event to be taken off the calendar is the Grand Prix three cushion in Doetinchem, which was to start tonight, Wednesday, October 14 with the first pre-rounds and a total number of 108 participants in two weeks. For the time being, this Grand Prix has been postponed to December 10-19. With immediate effect, all team competitions and personal matches are cancelled and/or postponed. The highest divisions in three cushion, the premier league and the other national divisions will not continue in the next four weeks. The KNBB, Dutch federation, writes in an official announcement 'until further notice', because the government will make an evaluation after two weeks and then eventually will announce further decisions and measures.
This involves, for the divisions of the Section Three cushion, a total of 126 matches per week, 504 over four match days in four weeks. In addition, 32 cup matches are played. Hans de Bruin of the Three Cushion Section has calculated: ''We can still catch up when we are back playing around December 5th.''
In individual matches and team matches in three cushion and other game types, the following global calculation is made with the number of matches that are canceled:
Team matches per month (including cup matches): 5000
Individual championships and heats: 4800.
The KNBB section three cushion sent the following announcement to districts and teams this Wednesday morning:
COVID-19 MEASURES
The KNBB board expresses great concern about the current situation in the Netherlands and gives priority to the health of our members. That applies not only playing matches, also tthe transport to and from the playing rooms. The cabinet measures have forced us to adjust the current billiard season for the time being.
Following decisions:
X The current competition will be suspended in all divisions until further notice. The matches are also not played in the cup competition for the time being.
X The Cosmos Diamonds Grand Prix in Café De Veemarkt in Doetinchem is cancelled and postponed to December 10-19, 2020.
The Board of the Section Three Cusion will be considering the consequences in the coming weeks. You will be kept informed of developments via the website (driebanden.nl) and via social media.
Board Section three cushion.
In other countries, where COVID-19 infections show a worrying increase, no measures have yet been taken by the billiard federations. The Belgian league in the highest division continued this week with the exception of Biljart Expres, the champion team, which has cancelled its matches for the time being. The federation and sports leader Louis Masson are awaiting government measures to intervene.
A limited number of matches will be played in the German bundesliga next weekend. In the French league, the matches in the top division so far will continue on Thursday and Friday.