Rahul Gupta lets Kunal Agarwal off the hook

Unfancied Rahul Gupta squandered a golden opportunity to eliminate top seed Kunal Agarwal and enter the quarterfinals of the 15th Orissa State Junior Snooker Championship at Cuesport Academy in Bhubaneswar on Wednesday. After trailing by0-2 frames, state junior billiards champion Kunal used his experience to the hilt to carve out an exciting 3-2 victory. But second seed Jenson George, third seed Saurya Pattnaik and promising school boy Asutosh Padhy posted hassle-free wins to join Kunal, Nishant Biswal, Chirag Arora, Avilash Mahananda and Dhananjay Garg in the quarterfinals. Results: First round: Rumit Gupta bt Asutosh Lall 3-2 (36-52, 56-42, 41-23, 27-36, 49-42). Pre-quarters: Asutosh Padhy bt B R Mohanty 3-1 (45-12, 81-42, 57-61, 56-10): Saurya P Pattnaik bt J S Oberai 3-0 (63-4, 64-22, 62-37): Jenson George bt Rumit Gupta 3-1 (46-35, 47-8, 28-41, 63-11): Kunal Agarwal bt Rahul Gupta 3-2 (15-55, 31-44, 60-35, 57-28, 59-25). PHOTO: Saurya P Pattnaik playing his pre-quarterfinal match at the State junior snooker championship in Bhubaneswar on July 29, 2009.