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THE AMATEUR ANGLE - ALKOJAH WINS 2018 DMT OPEN

Held at the Arena Snooker and Pool Club in Ghent, Belgium, the second annual DMT Open featured 114 players from 15 countries. After four busy days of action, Syria's Omar Alkojah took the title and 1,500 Euros when defeating German professional Lukas Kleckers in the final.

​Living in Gemany himself - Aachen, to be exact, Alkojah may have been a surprise winner, but his stock on the amateur scene had been rising even before this.

​After coming through the early rounds, Alkojah progressed to 'Finals Day' where he defeated Joris Maas 5-1, Jurgen Van Den Bossche 5-1 and then Tijs Van Puybroeck 5-0 to reach the Final against Kleckers, a Q-School graduate from last year.

Alkojah began well - breaks of 80 and 45 helped him take a 2-0 lead. A 43 clearance from Kleckers saw him get on the board and then a run of 77 aided him in leveling at 2-2.

​Efforts of 35 and 34 guided Alkojah 3-2 up and then a 40 assisted him to go one away at 4-2. Kleckers claimed Frame 7, but Alkojah got over the line in the next for a 5-3 result.​​

The 2017 Champion and former professional Bjorn Haneveer (Belgium) lost 5-3 to Kleckers in the Quarter-Finals, whilst last year's Runner-Up Ben Mertens (Belgium), who is only 13 years old, was eliminated in the opening round by Belgian National Champion Jeff Jacobs.

Semi-Finalists Tino De Witte and Van Puybroeck were from the home club, although there was representation from the UK, Holland, Ukraine, Israel and many more.

Throughout the tournament 91 breaks of over 50 were made, including 3 centuries. Due to the success, organiser Gery De Mol confirmed that there will be a third edition in 2019.

The event had its own Facebook page, you can view it here.

2018 DMT Open 

Results (from the Last 16 onwards)

​Lukas Kleckers 5-3 Peter Cnudde

​Alex Van Ruysseveldt 0-5 Bjorn Haneveer

Fergal Quinn 3-5 Kevin Van Hove

​Jurgen Van Roy 3-5 Tino De Witte

Joris Maas 1-5 Omar Alkojah

​Yago Montes Lprenzo 1-5 Jurgen Van Den Bossche

​Wesley Pelgrims 5-2 Danny Baekelmans

​Tijs Van Puybroeck 5-3 Ludovic Arnaert 

Quarter-Finals

Kleckers 5-3 Haneveer

Van Hove 4-5 De Witte

Alkojah 5-1 Van Den Bossche

Pelgrims 2-5 Van Puybroeck

Semi-Finals

​Kleckers 5-4 De Witte

Alkojah 5-0 Van Puybroeck

Final

Kleckers 3-5 Alkojah

Picture above is courtesy of the 2018 DMT Open

Article written and published by Michael Day on the 8th April 2018​​​​​​​​​​​​