3-Cushion
SLUISKIL - The 31-year old Raymund Schwertz, frequently called Schwertzenegger by his team boss, faced the eternal three cushion legend, 53-years older Raymond Ceulemans last Sunday afternoon. The difference in age is colossal, the difference in quality much less, even in the splendid later days of the Belgian phenomenon. The Dutchman, who more and more switched from classic games to three-cushion, confessed after the match, which he won 40-32: ''I had to be careful in the end and defend strongly. After all, you never know with such a great champion whether he will attack to the finish line.''
On the sixth day in the Dutch premier league, however, it was the stepping stone for SIS Schoonmaak in the away match against Dallinga for a valuable victory (3-5). Therefore, the top team remained the unbeaten leader, even after the unexpected loss of its leading player Dick Jaspers against Jean Paul de Bruijn. Martin Horn, frontman for Bousema, surpassed himself in the double weekend with two victories to 40 caroms in 14 innings: 2,857 on average over two matches. Bouseman also won his second match of the weekend: 6-2 against 't Hartje. That makes SIS the leader with 12 out of six, followed by A1 with 9 out of six, Bousema and Cues&Darts with 8 out of six.
The basis for SIS' victory in Sluiskil was laid before the break. The shadow leader, Eddy Merckx, not at his best before the break against Peter De Backer, brought his team with a wonderful equaliser (40-40 in 28) to a lead before the break: 3-1. That still was not enough for a walk-over in the second half, although Jean van Erp dominated the match against Steven van Acker.
The top match at the Sluiskil centercourt between two old mates, Dick Jaspers and Jean Paul de Bruijn, brought the Zeeland home crowd with about sixty fans) in ecstasy. The former PBA player, who returned this year, who was remarkably strong as well with a victory over Frans van Kuyk on Saturday, forced Jaspers, the number one in the world rankings, into a hard and exciting prestige fight after a run of six in the last part (lead 37-28). The 'Zeeland player' accelerated in the end and let his home crowd cheer for a personal success with his last and winning carom 40-36 in 24 innings. The final victory, however, was for SIS Schoonmaak with a 3-5 score.
Martin Horn already scored optimally for Bousema against Dave Christiani (40-14 in 14) on Saturday and added another amazing victory over Ismail Yasin (40-18 in 14) on Sunday. The German stated: ''I practiced a lot this week and I'm happy with my form and also for my team.'' The Sunday victory started with an miss from the break, after that Horn was unstoppable, with runs of 7 in the fifth and 8 in the eleventh inning.
The two other victories for Bousema against 't Hartje came from Stefan Galla against Harrie van de Ven (40-38 in 38) and Anno de Kleine against Frank Martens (40-35 in 36). Martin Spoormans was the only winner for 't Hartje in the match with Johan Loncelle (40-28 in 33).
A1 DPC maintained its position in the top of the ranking after an unexpected maximum 8-0 victory against Team Eekhoorn. Dave Christiani, Michael Nilsson, Jelle Pijl and Addy Wienk were ruthless for the camping guests, who like J&P Auto's have dropped to a remarkably low position on the ranking. The Hague players also lost, 6-2 in the away match against Zundert. Jeffrey Jorissen, the Hague leading player, was the only one to score for his team over the double weekend: this Saturday against Roland Uijtdewillegen, on Sunday against Nikos Polychronopoulos 40-31 in 24 innings.
For Zundert, Roland Forthomme won the match against his former team mate Barry van Beers (40-30 in 25), Thorsten Frings was the better of Therese Klompenhouwer (40-35 in 35) and Francis Forton beat Mick Nijman (40-24 in 21). Aartsbouw took the first match point in the home match against Dekker Keukens (4-4), Cues&Darts won the match against DKM Tools after two ties: Pierre Soumagne against Jack Wijnen, Jack van Peer against Joey de Kok, who could equalize with five from the break. Ruben Legazpi was a double winner for Cues&Darts in the two weekend matches, Michael Nilsson did the same for the A1 team.
Jean Paul de Bruijn won his matches against Frans van Kuyk and Dick Jaspers
Martin Horn, the best of all in the double weekend (picture Arnoud de Vries)
Michael Nilsson, twice winner in the double weekend (picture Arnoud de Vries)
Dave Christiani was on nr. 1 position the winner in his match with Frans van Kuyk
Peter Ceulemans, playing to Michael Nilsson, couldn't make it better for his team that lost 8-0