Odisha cueist Ashutosh Padhy created history, knocking out 18-time world champion Pankaj Advani by 4-2 frames in Round-32 of the 85th Senior National Snooker Championship, held at Bangalore from January 8 to 26, 2018. However, the Odisha lad’s campaign ended in the next round when he lost to Aayush Kumar (Punjab) 2-4.
Altogether six from Odisha participated in the snooker event. Among them Subrat Das, Rakesh Kumar Barik and Akash Mohapatra bowed out from the qualifying stage, while Mohammad Raza and Nishant Biswal crashed out in the group league phase.
Representing Odisha in billiards, Kunal Agarwal and Subrat Das did well to qualify for knock-out stage after finishing second in respective group league. But both lost in the round of 32.
ODISHA RESULTS:
BILLIARDS:
GROUP STAGE: Group-D: Kunal Agarwal beat Ankur Khaitan (GUJ) 3-2 (100-64, 55-100, 101-57, 97-101, 100-47); lost to Brijesh Damani (PSPB) 1-3 (26-101, 101-68, 19-100, 00-100); beat ML Lakshman (KTK) 3-1 (100-92, 100-73, 06-100, 100-87). Kunal finished second and qualified for Last 32. Group-J: Subrat Das beat KS Naveen Kumar (KTK) walk-over; Beat Vijay Nichani (TN) 3-0 (101-93, 101-83, 100-66); lost to Devendra Joshi (PSPB) 0-3 (55-102, 24-101, 2-102. Subrat finished second and qualified for Last 32.
KNOCK-OUT STAGE: LAST-32: Kunal Agarwal lost to Aditya Agarwal (RLY) 0-3 (130-150, 17-150, 79-150). Subrat Das lost to B Bhaskar (KTK) 0-3 (46-150, 33-151, 19-150.
SNOOKER:
QUALIFYING STAGE: Subrat Das beat Abhinav Badge 3-0; beat Amal Prakash (w/0); lost to Jenil Kanti Patel 0-3. Rakesh Kumar Barik lost to Mahesh Aditya 1-3. Ashutosh Padhy beat Rahul Narang (w/o); beat Sasha Sambi 3-1; beat Naresh Kumar 3-0; beat Shubham Arora 3-0; beat Waseem Ahmed 3-0. Akash Mohapatra beat U Siriram 3-0; beat Sanchit Tamta 3-1; beat Sukuram Barman 3-2; lost to Rishabh Jain 2-3.
GROUP STAGE: Group-I: Mohammad Raza lost to Lucky Vatnani (TL) 0-3 (26-58, 9-114, 17-69); lost to Johnson Narsidani (GJ) 0-3 (1-74, 32-57, 29-51); Lost to IH Manudev (KTK) 0-3 (0-72, 15-60, 18-84). Raza finished fourth and last. Group Q: Ashutosh Padhy beat IV Rajeev (AP) 3-0 (59-34, 66-07, 63-07); lost to Pushpender Singh (RLY) 0-3 (26-62, 01-99, 00-73-); beat Mudit Poddar (WB) 3-0 (85-01, 71-35, 69-09). Ashutosh finished second and qualified for knock-out stage. Group-V: Nishant Biswal lost to Piyush Kushwaha (MP) 0-3 (13-64, 20-69, 47-76); beat V Susheel (AP) 3-1 (75-40, 12-46, 60-08, 58-08); lost to Faisal Khan (RLY) 2-3 (53-49, 39-74, 49-60, 59-51, 43-52). Biswal finished third.
KNOCK-OUT STAGE: Last 64: Ashutosh Padhy beat R Girish (Rly) 4-2 (15-62, 69-42, 71-31, 60-50, 22-62, 69-12). Last-32: Ashutosh Padhy bt Pankaj Advani (PSPB) 4-1 (62-36, 75-47, 30-63, 90(57)-03, 84(47)-11). Pre-quarters: Aayush Kumar (PNB) beat Ashutosh Padhy 4-2 (65-25, 82-26, 73-43, 23-63, 53-106, 62-17).