BHUBANESWAR 27-Jan-2016
Odisha lad Ashutosh Padhy finished runner-up in junior snooker category of the Manisha National Billiards & Snooker Championship, which was held at Indore from January 12. Odisha state champion Ashutosh won two matches in the top-four league and and lost one finished second in the final standings.
However, being runner-up Ashutosh qualified to represent India in Junior Asian and World Snooker Championships. Bhubaneswar cueist Ashutosh, who participated in four events of the National championship, reached pre-quarterfinals in junior billiards before losing to Hritik Jain by 33 points.
In senior billiards, Ashutosh stood second in Group-D league with two wins and a loss. But in the Round- of-32 he lost to Arun Agrawal (Mahaharashtra) 1-3. However, in the only frame he won, the Odisha lad registered an unfinished break of 152.
As many as five cueists were eligible to officially represent Odisha in the ongoing National championship. But state junior billiards runner-up Sahil Arora and junior snooker runner-up Rajat Dhal opted out due unavoidable reasons.
Among the other two, state senior billiards runner-up Subrat Das failed to the reach top-32 stage as he finished third in Group-N league, winning one and losing two matches.
In senior snooker none of three Odisha players was able to reach the knock-out stage. Subrat Das was eliminated in the qualifying round, winning three maches and losing one. Nishant Biswal lost all three of his main draw matches despite giving tough fight to his opponents in Group-M. Ashutosh Padhy won one and lost two to finish third in in Group-I.
Besides Ashutosh, Subrat and Nishant, another Odisha cueist participated in the Indore Nationals, albiet on his own. He was Pratik Surekha, who played one match in sub-junior snooker event and lost to Shivam (Delhi) 0-2 (28-47, 52-62).
ODISHA RESULTS:
Junior Billiards: Round-32: Ashutosh Padhy (Odi) beat Jeet Vasani (Jhar) 377-165. Pre-quarterfinals: A Padhy lost to Hritik Jain (MP) 264-297.
Junior Snooker: Round-32: Ashutosh Padhy beat Sparsh Pherwani (Mah) 3-0 (68-44, 73-13, 62-10). Pre-quarterfinals: A Padhy bt Mohatasham Alvi (TN) 3-0 (76-3, 47-22, 84-8. Quarterfinals: A Padhy bt ML Laxman (Kar). Top-4 League: A Padhy bt Nikhil Saigal (Mah) 4-1 (63-65, 53-21, 54-36, 70-33, 68-15). A Padhy lost to Ishpreet Chadda (Mah) 2-4.
Senior Billiards: Group-D League: Ashutosh Padhy beat Sundeep Gulati (Del) 3-0 (103(64)-31, 100(49)-34, 100-91); A Padhy beat BL Dheeraj (AP) 3-0 (100-42, 100-24, 100-23); B Bhaksar (Kar) bt A Padhy 3-1 (102(99)-10, 100(83)-68, 21-101, 101-21). Padhy finished second in the group and was eliminated. Group-N League: Subrat Das (Odi) beat Nikhil Ghadge (Rly) 3-1 (93-100, 100-85, 100-87, 101-16); Sundar Raj (TN) bt Subrat Das 3-0 (100-75(53) 101-91, 101-54); D Rajkumar (Kar) beat Subrat Das 3-1 (70-102, 101(62)-00, 101-61, 101-53). Das finished third.
Senior Snooker: Group-I: Ashutosh Padhy lost to Panduranga Rao (AP) 0-3 (33-71, 19-61, 50-64); beat S Mumtaz Ali (Jharkhand) 3-0 (74-10, 47-40, 61-01); lost to Alok Kumar (PSPB) 2-3 (74-37, 71-48, 39-55, 9-116, 13-58).
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PHOTO: Ashutosh Padhy at the Senior National Championship in Indore.
