BHUBANESWAR 06-Sep-2015
Putting up their best performance in the final, Baize Rulers prevailed over Blue Hawks 3-1 to lift the trophy in the 1st Odisha Snooker Premier League (OSPS) here the Vintage Club today. The champions received the top prize of Rs 60,000 and the runners-up settled with Rs 30,000.
Purple Squirrel finished third to take home Rs 15,000. Subrat Das of Purple Squirrel pocketed Rs 3000 as the player of the tournament, while Kunal Agarwal received Rs 2000 as man of the final. Prizes were given away by Gandharba Chandra Nayak, Chairman of Mahavir Group of Institutions.
Blue Hawks, comprising Jeet Kishore Das, Jiten Sarangi, Amiya Ranjan Nayak and Anuj Panda qualified for the final directly, winning two league matches and losing one. After losing to Purple Squirrel 2-3, they beat Baize Rulers 3-1 and Q-ing Saddles 3-2.
But Baize Rulers booked berth in the final after getting the better of Purple Squirrel 3-2 in the exciting eliminator. The eliminator was played as Baize Rulers and Purple Squirrel tied for the second spot behind Blue Hawks.
Earlier in the league stage, Baize Rulers, consisting of Aakash Mohapatra, Siddharth Sen, Nishant Biswal and Kunal Agarwal, made a good start, beating Q-ing Saddles 3-0, but suffered two defeats thereafter, losing to Blue Hawks 1-3 and Purple Squirrel 2-3.
On the other hand, Purple Squirrel, featuring Subrat Das, Sureet Singh, Subhranshu Bhusan Kar and Sourya Prasad Pattanaik, won two league matches, defeating Blue Hawks 3-2, Baize Rulers 3-2, but lost against Q-ing Saddles 1-3. Q-ing Saddles, comprising Rakesh Roshan Pradhan, Ahsan-ul Haque, Satyadeep Das and Chirag Arora, crashed out in the league stage, losing two matches and winning one.
Organised by Vintage Club and sponsored by Mahavir Group of Institutions, the inaugural edition of OSPL, featuring four teams, commenced on September 2. Earlier in August, 24 leading cueists joined the auction and 16 among them were bought by the four franchises. State billiards champion Subrat Das and his Bhubaneswar citymate Rakesh Roshan Pradhan emerged as the joint-costliest cueists with price tag of Rs 11,000 each.
Each franchise owner had to register their team by paying a fee of Rs 5,000 each. While buying four players of their choice, Blue Hawks and Q-ing Saddle spent their entire budget of Rs 20,000 each, while Purple Squirell and Baize Rulers spent Rs 17,500 and Rs 18,000 respectively.
RESULTS:
Sept 2 (Match No 1): Baize Rulers bt Q-ing Saddles 3-0. Aakash Mohapatra bt Chirag Arora 2-0 (60-53, 71-41); Siddharth Sen bt Ahsan-ul Haque 2-0 (63-49, 65-36); Nishant Biswal bt Rakesh Roshan Pradhan 2-1 (54-66, 71-8, 80-32). MoM: Aakash Mohapatra.
Sept 2 (Match No 2): Purple Squirrel bt Blue Hawks 3-2. Jeet K Das bt Subhranshu Bhusan Kar 2-0 (61-38, 65-15); Subrat Das bt Anuj Panda 2-0 (70-4, 74-12); Sureet Singh bt Amiya R Nayak 2-1 (51-34, 46-57, 66-42); Jiten Sarangi bt SP Pattanaik 2-0 (66-36, 65-28); Subrat Das bt Jeet K Das 2-0 (68-6, 63-25). MoM: Subrat Das.
Sept 3 (Match No 3): Blue Hawks bt 3-1 Baize Rulers 3-1. Anuj Panda (BH) lost to Nishant Biswal 2-1 (BR) 45-37, 32-58, 41-60; Amiya Nayak (BH) bt Kunal Agarwal (BR) 2-1 (45-21, 33-46, 58-35); Jeet Das (BH) bt Sidharth Sen (BR) 2-0 (66-21, 50-42); Jiten Sarangi (BH) bt Aakash Mohapatra (BR) 2-1 (55-23, 45-52, 66-40). MoM: Jiten Sarangi.
Sept 3 (Match No 4): Q-ing Saddles bt Purple Squirrels 3-1. Rakesh Pradhan (QS) bt Subransu Kar (PS) 2-1 (56-32, 32-57, 62-54); Ahsan-ul Haque (QS) lost to Subrat Das (PS) 1-2 (76-32, 54-45, 56-32); Satyadeep Das (QS) bt Sureet Singh (PS) 2-0 (54-21, 64-32); Saurya Patnaik (PS) lost to Chirag Arora (QS) 2-0 (32-56, 43-49). MoM: Chirag Arora.
Sept 4 (Match No 5): Blue Hawks bt Q-ing Saddles 3-2. Anuj Panda bt Satyadeep Das 2-0 (57-24, 74-19); Rakesh Roshan Pradhan bt Jeet Kishore Das 2-1 (41-74, 61-42, 61-19); Jiten Sarangi bt Ahsan-ul Haque 2-1 (47-42, 49-59, 64-23); Chirag Arora bt Amiya R Nayak 2-0 (46-36, 52-34); Jeet Kishore Das bt Rakesh Roshan Pradhan 2-0 (61-20, 64-49). MoM: Anuj Panda.
Sept 4 (Match No 6): Purple Squirrel bt Baize Rulers 3-2. Aakash Mohapatra bt SP Pattanaik 2-0 (64-36, 52-18); Nishant Biswal bt Sureet Singh 2-1 (36-54, 68-18, 45-23); Subrat Das bt Kunal Agarwal 2-0 (74-58, 64-52); Subhranshu Bhusan Kar bt Siddharth Sen 2-1 (64-50, 20-56, 45-36); Subrat Das bt Nishant Biswal 2-1 (67-48, 46-58, 54-25). MoM: Subhranshu Bhusan Kar.
Sept 5 (Match No 7, Eliminator): Baize Rulers bt Purple Squirrel 3-2. Siddharth Sen lost to SP Pattanaik 2-3 (13-53, 37-62, 49-47, 62-55, 37-43); Kunal Agarwal bt Sureet Singh 3-0 (62-32, 54-43, 58-32); Nishant Biswal lost to Subrat Das 1-3 (32-62, 63-54, 57-67, 33-51); Aakash Mohapatra bt Subhranshu Kar 3-2 (47-58, 51-47, 47-50, 80-47, 75-28); Nishant Biswal bt Subrat Das 3-0 (46-44, 64-9, 69-45). MoM: Aakash Mohapatra.
Sept 6 (Match No 8, Final): Baize Rulers bt Blue Hawks 3-1. Jeet Kishore Das bt Aakash Mohapatra 3-1 (27-49, 65-10, 75-15, 64-37); Siddharth Sen bt Anuj Panda 3-1 (66-14, 17-60, 71-44, 58-38); Nishant Biswal bt Amiya Ranjan Nayak 3-0 (61-28, 62-43, 76-30); Kunal Agarwal bt Jiten Sarangi 3-1 (46-54, 54-29, 51-26, 66-22). MoM: Kunal Agarwal.
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PHOTO: Members of OSPL champion team with their owner and guest in Bhubaneswar on Sept 6, 2015.
