Asutosh comes of age in cuesports

Local school boy Asutosh Padhy set the precious English table on fire by trouncing second seed Jenson George in the last quarterfinal of the 15th State Junior Snooker Championship at the Cuesport Academy in Bhubaneswar today. Four days after winning both the billiards and snooker titles in the inaugural State sub-junior championship, bespectacled Padhy asserted his talent in the higher age group by winning the match 4-1. Son of former minister Surama Padhy, Asutosh displayed fine temperament and flawless putting ability to race to a 3-0 lead. He fumbled with a few important shots in the fourth frame to allow Jenson reduce the margin to 3-1. But in the fifth frame, Asutosh feasted on his opponent’s mistakes to clinch the memorable victory. The other three quarterfinals turned out to be lop-sided contests with top seed Kunal Agarwal, third seed Saurya Pattnaik and fourth seed Nishant Biswal registering 4-0 identical wins. In the semifinals, Kunal meets Nishant and Saurya takes on Asutosh tomorrow. Results: Quarterfinals: Asutosh Padhy bt Jenson George 4-1 (60-19, 54-38, 50-23, 49-63, 50-18): Saurya P Pattnaik bt Chirag Arora 4-0 (66-57, 68-46, 51-39, 68-29): Kunal Agarwal bt Avilash Mahananda 4-0 (62-18, 69-48, 58-33, 64-31): Nishant Biswal bt Dhananjay Garg 4-0 (52-32, 74-2, 70-12, 56-52). PHOTO: Asutosh Padhy attempts to putt the black ball at the State Junior Snooker Championship in Bhubaneswar on Thursday.