After finishing the third round in the club competition with their team on Saturday, various drafts players joined the FlexVirtual & Nutanix Damweek Hijken in Beilen on Sunday.
Hijken pushed DTC aside with ease in the top honors Drafts combination Fryslân, while Hoogeveen surrendered his lead after a thrilling duel to Wageningen.
After a lightning victory by Rick Hakvoort on behalf of Hoogeveen and the equalizer by Simon Harmsma, Nicole de Vries took advantage of Heike Verheul’s only mistake.
Routine ‘finger push’
The Geldersen came alongside again, when former world champion Alexander Schwarzman punished a routine ‘finger push’ by Martijn Vissers, who had been bidding well until then. With that, the Drenthe missed a deserved draw, because youth talent Roland Kreeft was unable to cope with national champion Jan Groenendijk: 9-11.
Hijken DTC actually came out of the game at Drafts Combination Fryslân badly because of the preparations for the WorldCup, but made up for this by recruiting Ukrainian Yuriy Anikeev who had already settled in a bungalow in Drenthe as a substitute. This drew with Kees Thijssen, saw the stars Boomstra, Sipma, Scholma and Jansen win and witnessed the first victory of Matheo Boxum. The 13-year-old boy had no mercy after an endgame blunder by veteran Paul Oudshoorn: 6-14.
World Cup
On Sunday, Boxum and various other participants in the competition in Beilen, where the Damweek Hijken started in VOLTA secondary school with the third World Cup tournament in 2022.
All favourites, including northern favorites Roel Boomstra, Wouter Sipma and Martin Dolfing, won their first match. The tournament lasts until Friday. A spectacular dessert will follow next weekend with the European Championship Rapid and Blitz.