Priyanka makes Orissa cuesports proud

She is the lone female cueists of Orissa. But despite the absence of any other female player and domestic competition, Priyanka Agarwal made Orissa proud by finishing runner-up for the second time in the Junior Girls National Billiards Championship when she lost to Maharashtra’s Arantxa Sanchis in the final at Agra today. In junior girls’ snooker, Bhubaneswar lass Priyanka reached semifinals before losing to Sanchis again. According to her brother Kunal, Priyanka also made her presence felt in ladies’ billiards by reaching quarterfinals, where she lost to last year’s champion R Umadevi (Karnataka). Meanwhile, Ahsan-ul Haque brought cheers for Orissa in the 76th Senior National Snooker Championship by reaching the round of 32. In the league stage, Nalco cueist Haque finished second behind Geet Sethi (Gujarat) by wining one match and losing two in group ‘H’. In his last league clash, Haque gave Sethi a good run for his money before losing 2-3.But Orissa state champion Jeet Kishore Das came a cropper, losing all three of his league matches in group ‘K’. ORISSA RESULTS: Junior girls billiards: Priyanka Agarwal beat Varsha Sanjeev (Kar) 102-52 in quarters: beat Keerath Bhandaal (Del) 161-125 in semis: lost to Arantxa Sanchis (Mah) 176-233 in final. Junior girls snooker: Priyanka Agarwal beat Jasmira Anjikar (Mah) 2-0 (67-8, 46-17) in quarters: lost to Arantxa Sanchis (Mah) 0-2 (14-42, 6-59) in semis. Ladies billiards: Priyanka Agarwal beat Aradhna Naik (Kar) 2-0, beat Ashwini Puranik (MP) 2-0 and lost to R Umadevi (Kar) 0-2 in quarters. Men’s senior snooker: Group H: Ahsan-ul Haque lost to Geet Sethi (Guj) 2-3 (73-44, 61-42, 13-76, 14-57, 20-71). Group K: Jeet Kishore Das lost to K Venkatesham (Rly) 1-3 (24-57, 0-108, 61-9, 28-73).