On February 20th, invited by Mr. Florea Sorin and Gyany Antonescu, on the occasion of the Romanian football match between Steaua Bucharest  and Ajax Amsterdam , Jan Hooymans, Klaus Stieneker and Vincent van de Kerk (Pipa, Holland) arrived in Bucharest. Mr. Sorin had been invited at the tour match from Amsterdam, but due to the busy program he had, he could not go. Jan Hooymans is already the revelation of the last years in Holland, regarding demifond and one day fond , and his famous dove “Harry” has already become a real legend ( it won  the 1st place 3 times from more than 22,000 doves).

Jan Hooymans , Klaus Stieneker , Vincent van den Kerk and Florea Sorin

Jan Hooymans , Klaus Stieneker , Vincent van den Kerk and Florea Sorin

Jan Hooymans participated for years in the marathon fond races, and he had doves only from his mentor , the famous Cor de Heide. At the beginning of 2000, when he decided to participat at shorter races, he invested massively in doves that were of the highest quality….only from two pigeon lovers : Gaby Vandenabeele and Gerard Koopman, and his basical pair being formed from: “Jonge Bliksem”( a son from Bliksem- Vandenabeele) and “Dirjke” (Kliene Dirk &Amore – Koopman). This pair has become one of the the best reproduction pairs in history, regarding the demifond and one day fond. More details about this pair and Jan Hooymans’doves can be found in the “ Articles” of this site. Klaus Stieneker is one of the great champions of Germany, due to his own results and the referrences he has.His dove “Carlos”, an Olimpic dove falls within the Top 3 National Demifond, due to its score, for the whole history of the German pigeonsport!

Gyany Antonescu , Klaus Stieneker , Vincent van den Kerk and Florea Sorin

Gyany Antonescu , Klaus Stieneker , Vincent van den Kerk and Florea Sorin

The three persons have come to Romania for the first time and when they left, they were more impressed than they would have imagined; of course, they were very pleased with what they saw. We know very well how (unfortunately) Romania is seen in the West, just as we know that , at least after this visit, the opinion of at least three Western European persons was modified forever…to the good.  Vincent told me that, from now on, when he will hear people speaking ill of Romania, he will correct them immediately. They were very pleasantly impressed by the Romanian hospitality, by our capital city, by our traditional food, by our palinca drink, by our football players and the public from the National Arena. During the 36 hours spent in Bucharest, we visited together “People’s House”, tourist objectives from Bucharest and a few casinos that Mr. Sorin has. On Thursday, Bibi Stefanescu joined us (he is the owner of the Balkanik Pair Play Loft, the oldest loft race from Eastern Europe, and one of the oldest in Europe.) All the present persons will bring doves on Bibi’s loft race, the only one in the world who still bids his doves on PIPA. Other participants are: Jan Hooymans, Klaus Stiekener, Alfons Klaas (the best player at the loft races from the entire world during the last years), Marcel Sangers, Fam Eijerkamp, Pipa Elite Center, Gyselbrecht-Leliaert, Jos Thone, Eric Limbourg, Marck de Cock, etc.; thus Balkanik Far Play Loft will be the loft race with the greatest participants from Europe. We have discussed for hours about pigeonsport; these discussions were very constructive. These discussions were based on the pigeonsport, without any gossips, etc. We learned a lot of things about the motivation, the training and the food of doves. Within these talks , Florea Sorin and Gyany Antonescu have agreed with Jan Hooymans upon the acquisition of the latter’s best offsprings , this spring.

In front of one of Mr. Sorin’s casinos

In front of one of Mr. Sorin’s casinos

In front of one of Mr. Sorin’s casinos ;

Vincent van de Kerk , Florea Sorin , Jan Hooymans si Klaus Stieneker

Vincent van de Kerk , Florea Sorin , Jan Hooymans si Klaus Stieneker

Vincent van de Kerk , Florea Sorin , Jan Hooymans si Klaus Stieneker ;

Together with Klaus Stieneker

Together with Klaus Stieneker

Together with Klaus Stieneker ;

Together withVincent van de Kerk

Together withVincent van de Kerk

Together withVincent van de Kerk ;

Mr. Florea Sorin’s offices

Mr. Florea Sorin’s offices

Mr. Florea Sorin’s offices ;

Jan Hooymans, Klaus Stieneker, Vincent van de Kerk and Florea Sorin, in front of Mr. Sorin’s offices

Jan Hooymans, Klaus Stieneker, Vincent van de Kerk and Florea Sorin, in front of Mr. Sorin’s offices

Jan Hooymans, Klaus Stieneker, Vincent van de Kerk and Florea Sorin, in front of Mr. Sorin’s offices ;

The offices are surrounded by a beautiful Japanese pond where there are many Crap Koi ;

No visit without doves…and whom could we visit in Bucharest ? Ion “Mazare”. The visitors were pleasantly impressed by the quality of the flight lot; after checking 20-30 doves  “at hand”, Jan Hooymans  noted on the loft’s wall the series of 4 doves that will be the best birds for Ion “Mazare” in 2013, to the first’s point of view. We are curious to see if the great Jan Hooymans was right or not.

Jan Hooymans and Klaus Stieneker in Nea Ion “Mazare’s” loft ;

The Romanian-Dutch-German brothership: Jan Hooymans, Dinu Mihai (Pipa Romania), Vincent de Kerk (Pipa Holland), Gyany Antonescu, Klaus Stieneker and Florea Sorin;

Visiting one of Mr. Sorin’s casinos ;

Before the match we had a nice dinner, like old friens, at Cafe Louis that belongs to Mr. Sorin ;

Vincent van de Kerk, Gyany Antonescu , Bibi Stefanescu and Florea Sorin ;

Jan Hooymans and Bibi Stefanescu ;

National Arena – the Colosseum of the Romanian football and the Romanian people ;

Klaus Stieneker and Jan Hooymans ;

Fair – Play !!!!!

That is how history is written…