TILBURG – This year’s Dutch championship in the premier three-cushion league will be decided in a final two-match series between teams from Oosterhout and Tilburg. The final, a best-of-three series, will be played between Babbelz (Oosterhout) and Cues&Darts (Tilburg) on Friday 6 June at 7.30 p.m. at Cues&Darts in Tilburg, and on Saturday afternoon 7 June at 1 p.m. at Babbelz in Oosterhout.
The match points will determine the winner of the two-match series: the team that reaches 4 match points first is the winner. If the score after two matches is 2-2 or 3-1, for example, a decisive match must be played at Babbelz on Saturday evening. If a team wins twice (for example, 6-2 and 5-3), a third match is not necessary.
Babbelz automatically qualified for the final by finishing first in the rankings with 38 match points, ahead of Cues&Darts with 31 and Team Eekhoorn with 26.
The match for a place in the final (against Babbelz) between Cues&Darts and Team Eekhoorn, today in Tilburg, was already half decided before the break. Joey de Kok won in an excellent match against Kurt Ceulemans 40-21 in 25, and Jef Philipoom had the better final sprint than Peter Ceulemans, winning 40-38 in 30 innings.
Cues&Darts had to win one more match after the break and succeeded thanks to Huub Wilkowski, who defeated Frans van Kuyk 40-30 in 25. The match on centre court was won by Nick Polychronopoulos, who defeated Glenn Hofman 40-27 in 24, but that brought the score to 6-2, so a victory for Cues&Darts.
The Tilburg match winners showed excellent averages and are ready for the final: Huub Wilkowski and Joey de Kok both 1,600. Jef Philipoom won his match with 1,333, Glenn Hofman lost to Polychronopoulos with 1,125.
Cues&Darts has never been this close to the title before. Monique Wilkowski, the team leader: "We are a young club that is making a name for itself with ambitions and a lot of youth. Last year we finished third, but we did win the cup final. Now we were second in the cup final and we are playing the play-off final. Only the icing on the cake is missing, but we already feel satisfied because we have shown great team spirit. I am very proud of that."