The field of players and the draw for the Duke Challenge

The Duke Challenge, the international three-cushion event with 16 European top players and Jumbo as main sponsor, has announced the schedule for the first two days in the knockout. The well-known sports director of KNBB, Henny Wezenbeek, will kick off on Wednesday 20 January at 10:00 am. On that first day, six games will be played with a time schedule of 45 minutes per session. The two remaining games are scheduled for Thursday, January 21 at 10:00 AM and 11:15 AM.

Italian star player Marco Zanetti, two-time world champion, will launch the schedule against young Spaniard Antonio Montes, former European youth champion on Dutch soil. The German Martin Horn then enters the Duke arena for the second game against home favorite Jean van Erp.

Two absolute world top performers will show up for the third and fourth performance. The Turkish number one Tayfun Tasdemir, top five player in the world ranking, plays against the Dutch revelation Jeffrey Jorissen. Another Turkish star, Semih Sayginer, meets the young Belgian and grandson of the most famous player of all time: Peter Ceulemans.

Half of the program in the first round is then finished.

In the last day races, the Belgian Eddy Merckx, also two-time world champion, initially faces the great French talent Gwendal Maréchal. The current world champion, Swede Torbjörn Blomdahl with his enormous list of big victories, is the opponent of the young Dutchman Joey de Kok. That match ends this first day around 6 p.m.

Two last games of this first program will be played on Thursday from 10.00 am. Murat Naci Coklu, the Turkish player, known for the Dutch league, opens against the Frenchman Jérémy Bury. The number one in the world, the Netherlands' most famous player Dick Jaspers, closes the first series of the knockout against Roland Forthomme.

The first sessions and planning for the Jumbo Challenge

Wednesday January 20:
10.00: Marco Zanetti-Antonio Montes
11.15: Martin Horn-Jean van Erp
12.30: Tayfun Tasdemir-Jeffrey Jorissen
13:45: Semih Sayginer-Peter Ceulemans
3.00 pm: Eddy Merckx-Gwendal Maréchal
16.15: Torbjörn Blomdahl-Joey de Kok

Thursday January 21:
10.00 am: Murat Naci Coklu-Jérémy Bury
11.00 am: Dick Jaspers-Roland Forthomme

The schedule then continues with the winners of the Zanetti-Montes match against the Horn-Van Erp winner and the next winners' match. The quarter-finals are scheduled at 12:30 PM, 1:45 PM, 3:00 PM and 4:15 PM. The semi-finals, the times of which are still set, are on Friday, January 22.

All matches are broadcast live on Ziggo Sport. The total prize money is 77,000 euros, the winner earns 16,000 euros, all players receive 3,000 euros starting money. The matches will be played in the Duke hotel without an audience for three days.