Ace Odisha cueist Ashutosh Padhy clinched a double by winning both billiards and snooker titles in the 22nd State Junior Cuesports Championship here at Vintage Club today. Eighteen-year-old Ashutosh, who regained the billiards title earlier yesterday, added the snooker crown when he trounced defending champion Rajat Dhal in the final by 3-0 frames (69-12, 62-2, 58-42). Earlier in the semifinals, Ashutosh blanked Rakesh Barik 3-0 (59-23, 77-9, 80-30), while Rajat prevailed over Sahil Arora 3-1 (30-35, 51-19, 43-24, 58-25).

Padhy recaptured the junior billiards title when he beat defending champion Sahil Arora in the final 232-112. Only four players participated in the day-long billiards competition. Earlier, Cuttack cueist Sahil beat Barun Kumar Naik 186-116 to set up the title clash with local favourite Ashutosh, who played the final directly. Barun got the better of Prem Nayak 141-105 in the first of the three-match tournament.

Multiple National champion Ashutosh, who bagged an unprecedented five titles in the 20th state championship, skipped the last edition as he was busy with his Plus Two examinations. Bhubaneswar-based Ashutosh, who last year made cuesports history by bagging three titles in the National championship at Lucknow and represented India in the World U-21 Snooker Championship in UAE, is now studying in Mumbai-based Government College of Law.
RESULTS:
Junior Snookeer: Pre-quarters: Barun Nayak beat Dishant Satpathy 2-0; Rakes Barik beat Prem Nayak 2-0; Chandra Mohanty beat Aman Hembram 2-0; Prateek Surekha beat Subhankar Ddash 2-0. Quarterfinals: Rajjat Dhal beat Rahul Nayak 2-0; Rakes Barik beat Chandra Mohanty 2-0; Ashutosh Padhy beat Prateek Surekha 2-0; Sahil Arora beat Sarada Behera 2-0. Semifinals: Ashutosh Padhy beat Rakesh Barik 3-0; Rajat Dhal beat Sahil Arora 3-1. Final: Ashutosh Padhy beat Rajat Dhal 3-0.
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PHOTO: State junior billiards champion Ashutosh Padhy (Right) and runner-up Sahil Arora in Bhubaneswar on August 13, 2015.