Semi-finals for Roelofs and Verberk at Development Tour

Wim Blokpoel - Today the last 2 EU Development Tours of 2021 were played, with still a World Championship spot to play for.

4 of the 8 quarter-finalists in event 11 were Dutch! Unfortunately Damian Mol lost 2-5 to Tomas Houdek, while Gijsbert van Malsen lost 0-5 to German talent Fabian Schmutzler. Urk’s Geert Nentjes lost as well, 3-5 to Adam Gawlas. Thankfully, former JDC World Championship finalist Owen Roelofs, did manage to win his quarter-final, as he beat German Simon Schreier 5-0. In his semi-final Roelofs was edged out 4-5 by Gawlas, but still an impressive result from him.

In event 12, 2 Dutchmen made the last 8. Former JDC World Champion Jurjen van der Velde unfortunately lost 0-5 to Schmutzler. Maikel Verberk did win, as he impressively beat Development Tour Number One Rusty-Jake Rodriguez 5-3. In the semi-finals Verberk lost 2-5 to German talent Nico Kurz. 

So, a bit of a disappointing weekend after the first 6 events were very succesful. No Dutch title winners this week, and German talent Schmutzler got the World Championship spot, congrats to him. Geert Nentjes and Niels Zonneveld reached place 3 and 4 though, and along with them Jurjen van der Velde, Kevin Doets and Mike van Duivenbode also qualified for the 2021 World Youth Championship, so congrats to them as well!