Ace Odisha cueist Ashutosh Padhy achieved the biggest success of his illustrious career, reaching quarterfinals of the World U-21 Snooker Championship at Mol in Belgium today. However, after beating compatriot and reigning national champion Ishpreet Singh Chadha by 5-2 frames in the pre-quarterfinals, Ashutosh went down fighting to Alexander Ursenbacher (Switzerland) 3-5 in the last-eight stage.

Asutosh was the only among nine Indians to qualify for quarterfinals. Other seven Indians in the fray were: Shrikrishna Suryanarayanan, Mehul Saini, Digvijay Kadian, Nikhil Rakesh Saigal, Aditya Bhalla, Sparsh Pherwani and Aditya Shandilya.

Ashutosh started his campaign on a inauspicious note as he lost his opening Group-P league match to Joseph O` Connor (England) 1-4. But the Odisha lad, bounced back in style, winning his remaining three league matches convincingly.

Ashutosh finished 35th among 126 cueists with three wins, one loss and a frame difference of plus-five (13-8). Overall, he posted two breaks 50-plus (53, 51) in the six-day championship.

PERFORMANCE OF ASHUTOSH PADHY:
Group stage: Lost to Joseph O` Connor (England) 1-4 (0-88, 61-36, 4-79, 1-52, 21-66). Beat Tim De Ruyter (Netherlands) 4-2 (62-50, 70-24, 35-61, 65-61, 9-68, 89-18). Beat Kai Cheung (Hong Kong) 4-2 (5-79, 67-16, 10-74, 57-49, 81-1, 64-18). Beat Aaron Holland (Ireland) 4-0 (70-41, 69-31, 60-8, 52-24).
Last 64: Beat Florian NuBle (Austria) 4-3 (71-17, 30-74, 63-44, 53-70, 54-55, 62-54, 95-36).
Last 32: Beat Louis Heathcote (England) 5-1 (76-13, 86-31, 42-78, 71-58, 61-44, 72-41).
Last 16: Beat Ishpreet Singh Chadha (India) 5-2 (52-35, 2-111, 70-41, 95-58, 12-61, 73-40, 69-57).
Quarterfinals: Lost to Alexander Ursenbacher (Switzerland) 3-5 (59-101, 3-58,  94-21, 23-101, 64-55, 11-112, 71-45, 17-78).