Jerrel van Keimpema and Martijn Bom are dutch champions

Last Sunday, the Dutch Championship was played, and due to various circumstances many well-known names were absent. With 8 participants in the Open category and 6 participants in the Veterans category, it was a small but nevertheless enjoyable and friendly championship held under very warm conditions, which made it quite demanding for the players who were constantly in action.

Due to the draw, the Open category immediately featured a “group of death,” in which defending champion Casey van Os failed to reach the semi-finals on goal difference. The semi-finals were then entirely made up of members of MVV Rijnmond, and the two finalists also came from the same group. Only in sudden death was a winner decided, with Jerrel van Keimpema claiming his first Dutch Championship title in the Open category, once again adding a new name to a fine line of champions. The podium was completed by Rinaldo, who finished third by defeating Mikey Gerrets.

In the Veterans category, a round-robin format was played, with the initial matches determined by draw. Martijn Bom showed that after many years of absence he had not lost his touch, winning all of his matches. Nico Marks, runner-up in the previous two editions, struggled from the start and was unable to recover. After the round-robin phase, Martijn Bom and Marco de Bruin, ranked first and second, played the final, in which Martijn once again proved to be the strongest and, after many years, was crowned Dutch Champion in the Veterans category. The podium was completed by Robbert Thoen, who also made his comeback and finished third after defeating Nico Marks.