Bhubaneswar school boy ASHUTOSH Padhy created cuesports history by becoming Orissa`s first ever National billiards title at D Y Patil Vidyapeeth in Pune on Sunday. He emerged champion in the sub-junior category, defeating Rishit Jain of Delhi 127-123 in the exciting final.
Before Ashutosh, Kunal Agarwal was the highest achiever of Orissa, finishing runner-up in the 33rd Junior National Billiards Championship at Indore, two years ago.
Son of former Orissa Minister Surama Padhy, Ashutosh began his campaign in style, thrashing Ve Dhilip Akshai (Tamil Nadu) 236-67 and Mark Menezes (UP) 214-117 in the first and second round respectively. He then caused a major upset, toppling defending champion Mundir Shirazi (Karnataka) 218-202 to enter the quarterfinals.