The German National Championship ended with a convincing victory of the huge favourite, Lukas Kleckers, recently in Bad Wildungen.
The 23 year-old former professional, who hails from Essen but plays for Mayen-Koblenz in Germany’s First League, left his opponent Robin Otto from Hamburg few chances in a fast 4-0 victory.
Kleckers included a 102 century for good measure and, although Kleckers has now been a rather dominant figure in German snooker for a number of years, it’s only his second national title after his prior success in 2013.
A pro from 2017 up until his relegation from the Main Tour this year, Kleckers underscored his dominance by defeating last year’s champion Michael Schnabel 3-1 in the semis.
Richard Wienold, the champion from 2017, had to succumb to Robin Otto 0-3 in the quarter-finals.
Two other well-known names here left the competition earlier than expected, as both “business end” regular fixtures Roman Dietzel and the other player (besides Kleckers) with a Main Tour past, Patrick Einsle, were both ousted in the last 16.
As every year, the German National Championship in snooker was embedded in the German Billiards Championship, a nine day festival of all thinkable – and occasionally somewhat odd – disciplines of the sport.
Once again the small spa town of Bad Wildungen in Northern Hesse was hosting the event.
Originally chosen for its geographical situation in the very centre of Germany, Bad Wildungen has become a kind of synonym for German Billiards, the Sheffield of the local amateur sport here, if one wanted to be a bit audacious.
Lukas Kleckers tries hard for a comeback to the Main Tour, which he had to leave at the end of the last season.
As fellow young German gun Simon Lichtenberg likely will require a few miracles to remain on the circuit, the two just might battle it out at Bad Wildungen in one year’s time, should Lukas’ aspirations not be fulfilled by then.
