Reigning state senior snooker champion Jeet Kishre Das added another feather to his cap by winning the title in the 1st All-Odisha Open Handicap Snooker Tournament at Vintage Club here today. Cuttack cueist Jeet beat Bhubaneswar opponent Rakesh Roshan Pradhan in the final by 4-2 frames to take home the top prize of Rs 10,000. Runner-up Rakesh received Rs 5,000.

Organised by Vintage Club and sponsored by tripprocess.com, the first-of-its-kind tournament proved to be very popular among young and lesser-known cueists, giving them the opportunity to compete against leading lights and beat them as well. On the other hand, the five-day tournament came as new challenge for top-notch cueists, testing their skill, technique and temperament in a new format, under handicap rule.

Vintage Club co-owner Satyadeep Das describe handicap as an advantage for amateurs to compete against professionals in a level field. ``If you are the strongest player in a handicap tournament, you start at zero or scratch. While playing against you, a weaker player will get a starting advantage of some points,`` elaborated Satyadeep.

According to participating players’ rankings, Subrat Das was placed in A or zero category. Other 47 players in the fray were clubbed in categories A-1, B, B-1, C, C-1 and D with handicaps of 7, 21, 28, 35, 42, 49 and 56 points in the descending order.

Reigning state champion Jeet Kishrore Das, former junior national champion Ashutosh Padhy and state title winners Nishant Biswal and Rakesh Roshan Pradhan were included in A-1 group with handicap of plus-seven. Greenhorns Ram Agarwal, Siddharth Behera, Gourav Kakkad, Anjan Ghosh and Ankur Swain belonged to category D and had the highest handicap of +56.

After completion of group league, which featured a total of 71 matches, top two finishers from eight of the eight groups qualified for the knock-out stage. Subrat Das was the biggest casualty of the offbeat tournament, crashing out from the league stage with four wins and two defeats in Group B. Other major victim was under-21 international Ashutosh Padhy, who was shown the exit door by Akash Mohapatra in the pre-quarterfinals by 2-0 frames on Saturday.

RESULTS:
LEAGUE STAGE:
Group-A: Jeet Kishore Das bt Udbhash Mohapatro 2-0; Jeet Das bt Biraj Das 2-0; Indrajeet Sarangi bt Biraj Dash 2-0; Indrajeet Sarangi bt Udbhas Mohapatro 2-0; Jeet Das lost to Indrajeet Sarangi 1-2;  Udbhash Mohapatra bt Noman Salat 2-0; Jeet Das bt Noman Salat 2-0.
Group-B: Sudip Das bt Subrat Das 2-0; Subrat Das bt Amaresh Swain 2-0; Rakesh Barik bt Subrat Das 2-0; Rakesh Barik bt Amresh Swain 2-0; Anuj Panda bt Sudip Das 2-0; Sudip Das bt Amresh Swain 2-0; Anuj Panda bt Ashis Sharma 2-1; Subrat Das bt Anuj Panda 2-0; Rakesh Barik bt Ashis Sharma 2-1; Subrat Das bt Ashis Sharma 2-0; Sudeep Das bt Ashis Sharma 2-0; Amresh Swain bt Ashish Sharma 2-1.
Group-C: Rakesh Mohanty bt Hiranmoy Purohit 2-1; Hiranmay Purohit bt Akram Khan 2-0; Rishi Roy bt Rakesh Mohanty 2-1; Nishant Biswal bt Rishi Roy 2-0; Akram Khan bt Rishi Roy 2-0; Hiranmay Purohit bt Rishi Roy 2-1; Sidharth Behera lost to Rishi Roy 1-2.
Group-D: Ashwini Patnaik bt Chandra Mohanty 2-0; Rakesh Roshan Pradhan bt Amit Singh 2-0; Ashwini Patnaik bt Ram Agarwal 2-1; Usman Khan bt Ashwini Patnaik 2-1; Usman Khan bt Ram Agarwal 2-0; Chandra Mohanty bt Usman Khan 2-1; Ram Agarwal bt Chandra Mohanty 2-1; Amit Singh bt Chandra Mohanty 2-0.
Group E: Akash Mahapatra bt Chirag Arora 2-0; Ashutosh Padhy bt Mohit Chinchala 2-0; Chirag Arora bt Ranjit Pati 2-0; Mohin Chinchala bt Subham Kedia 2-0; Chirag Arora bt Ashutosh Padhy 2-1; Ashutosh Padhy bt Ranjeet Pati 2-0; Akash Mohapatro bt Mohit Chanchila 2-0; Ranjit Pati bt Mohit Chanchila 2-0.
Group F: Rahul Nayak bt Godwin G Kullu 2-1; Satyadeep Das bt Rahul Nayak 2-1; Chetan Jain bt Rahul Nayak 2-0; Chetan Jain bt Rohit Sharma 2-1; Rohit Sharma bt Anjan Ghosh 2-0; Satyadeep Das bt Anjan Ghosh 2-0; Chetan Jain bt Anjan Ghosh 2-1; Satyadeep Das bt Chetan Jain 2-0; Godwin G Kullu bt Chetan Jain 2-0.
Group G: Subhranshu Kar bt Mishal Swain 2-0; Subhranshu Kar bt Rajat Dhal 2-0; Subhranshu Kar bt Sarada Behera 2-0; Mishal Swain lost to Rajat Dhal 0-2; Jiten Sarangi bt Sarada Behera 2-0; Rajat Dhal bt Jiten Sarangi 2-1; Subhranshu Kar bt Jiten Sarangi 2-1; Sarada Behera lost to Rajat Dhal 1-2; Sonu Mohanty bt Rajat Dhal 2-1; Sonu Mohanty lost to Sarada Behera 0-2.
Group-H: Amiya Ranjan Nayak, Gyana Ranjan Das, Amiya Nayak bt Ankur Swain 2-0; Amiya Nayak bt Subhasis Biswal 2-1; Gyana Das bt Lalit Agarwal 2-0; Amiya Nayak bt Gyana Das 2-0; Amiya Nayak bt Lalit Agarwal 2-0; Gyana Das bt Atul Sharma 2-1; Gyana Das bt Sibasis Biswal 2-1; Amiya Nayak bt Atul Sharma 2-0; Ankur Swain bt Lalit Agarwal 2-0; Ankur Swain bt Sibasis Biswal 2-0; Sibasis Biswal bt Atul Sharma 2-1.
PRE-QUARTERFINALS: Nishant Biswal bt Rakesh Mohanty 2-0 (72-32, 93-49); Amiya Nayak bt Jiten Sarangi 2-0 (44-29, 74-20); Jeet Das bt Indrajeet Sarangi 2-1 (56-77, 77-44, 54-33); Akash Mohapatro bt Ashutosh Padhy 2-0 (50-05, 89-69); Anuj Panda bt Ashwini Patnaik 2-1 (25-58, 66-39, 67-42); Satyadeep Das bt Chetan Jain 2-0 (75-50, 91-48); Subhranshu Kar bt Gyana Das 2-0 (72-58, 57-37); Rakesh Pradhan bt Rakesh Barik 2-1 (73-63, 60-65, 84-43).
QUARTERFINALS: JK Das bt Amiya Nayak 3-2 (50-66, 59-67, 62-47, 68-36, 71-36); Subhranshu Kar bt Akash Mohapatro 3-2 (56-23, 54-18, 39-47, 13-51, 63-15); Satyadeep Das bt Anuj Panda 3-0 (80-31, 75-38, 59-37); Rakesh Pradhan bt Nishant Biswal 3-1 (27-61, 50-44, 63-49, 63-40).
SEMIFINALS: JK Das bt Satyadeep Das 3-1 (72-35, 87-36, 29-58, 65-52); RR Pradhan bt Subhranshu Kar 3-1 (73-49, 33-66, 73-65, 71-61).
FINAL: JK Das bt RR Pradhan 4-2 (17-52, 53-42, 32-57, 66-14, 61-10, 69-28).
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PHOTO: Jeet Kishore Das (R) and Rakesh Roshan Pradhan with their trophies in Bhubaneswar on June 28, 2015.