RAHUL WINS JUNIOR SNOOKER TITLE: Local school student Rahul Naik won the junior snooker title, defeating Avinash Mohapatra in the final by 3-0 frames earlier on October 12. This was the maiden state title for Rahul, who is a standard-IX student of St Xavier High School, located at Barbati Stadium.

Rahul happens to be a disciple of Subrat Das and participated in the qualifying round of the Sub-Junior National Billiards & Snooker Championship once.

Altogether 43 cueists, including five in junior snooker, are participating in the championship, which was organised by Billiards & Snooker Association of Odisha. Cuttack Club president Manoranjan Mohapatra and secretary Jasobanta Das handed over trophies at the closing ceremony. Tournament co-ordinator Govind Sharma was present on the occasion. Champion and runner-up in all three events qualified to represent Odisha in the National Billiards and Snooker Championships, scheduled to be held at Bangalore in January, 2018.

RESULTS:

JUNIOR SNOOKER: Quarterfinals: Santanu Kanhar beat Anurag Singh Samanta 2-0 (68-38, 64-19). Semifinals: Avinash Mohapatra beat Nishi Prakash Das 2-0 (72-15, 70-20); Rahul Naik beat Santanu Kanhar 2-1. Final: Rahul Naik beat Avinash Mohapatra 3-0 (44-33, 75-51, 47-29).

SENIOR BILLIARDS: Quarterfinals: Amiya Ranjan Nayak beat Rohit Sharma 2-1 (100-72, 91-100, 100-40); Rakesh Roshan Pradhan beat Ashwini Patnaik 2-1 (85-100, 100-55, 100-74). Semifinals: Subrat Das beat Rakesh Roshan Pradhan 3-0; Kunal Agrawal beat Amiya Ranjan Nayak 3-0. Final: Subrat Das beat Kunal Agrawal 4-3 (127-151, 137-152, 152-48, 150-127, 96-150, 150-130, 150-139).

SENIOR SNOOKER: Akram Khan beat Padmasan Nayak 3-0 (54-40, 46-23, 68-24); beat Chandra Mohanty 3-0 (64-33, 66-47, 62-25).
Amiya Ranjan Nayak beat Rohit Sharma 3-0 (65-26, 55-25, 60-13).
Anuj Panda beat Udbhas Mahapatra 3-1 (59-19, 49-56, 67-17, 41-19); beat Rakesh Roshan Pradhan 3-1 (57-50, 41-63, 51-42, 63-48).
Asutosh Padhy beat Ashwini Patnaik 3-0 (54-2, 69-38, 68-1); beat Amiya Ranjan Nayak 3-1 (22-63, 78-10, 59-48, 74-32).
Bhabani Misra beat J P Biswal 3-2 (20-56, 30-61, 40-29, 50-37, 62-58).
Chandra Prakash Mohanty beat Satyadeep Das 3-2 (55-42, 18-56, 57-55, 9-54, 43-38).
Jiten Sarangi beat Govind Sharma 3-0 (67-2, 56-23, 64-4).
Mishal Swain beat Kunal Agrawal 3-2 (70-50, 28-78, 31-71, 53-51, 52-42).
Mohammad Raza beat Sameer Ali 3-1 (37-40, 33-82, 46-71, 50-54); beat Jiten Sarangi 3-1 (12-48, 54-35, 63-46, 74-27).
Nishant Biswal beat Ishwar Prasad Lenka 3-0 (73-10, 86-5, 90-11); beat Abhishek Mahananda 3-0 (61-8, 50-28, 80-2).
Rakesh Roshan Pradhan beat Akash Mahapatra 3-1 (60-38, 47-24, 32-59, 67-31).
Rumit Gupta beat Khalid Sultan 3-1 (44-8, 64-42, 52-42); beat Bhabani Misra (w/o).
Saroj Das beat Honey Guru 3-1 (48-20, 50-36, 29-52, 57-21).
Siddharth Sen beat Ranjeet Pati 3-0 (81-0, 52-23, 56-48); beat Mishal Swain 3-0 (76-11, 54-20, 59-15).
Subrat Das beat Hemat More (w/o); beat Saroj Das 3-0 (61-20, 62-30, 82-61).
Quarter-finals: Anuj Panda beat Subrat Das 4-2 (15-95, 12-73, 65-45, 47-30, 56-11, 73-34). Asutosh Padhy beat Rumit Gupta 4-3 (16-57, 58-35, 60-26, 9-50, 66-14, 33-63, 79-25). Nishant Biswal beat Sidharth Sen 4-1 (74-27, 33-58, 64-26, 59-31, 63-24). Mohammad Raza beat Akram Khan 3-2 (40-31, 68-35, 60-1, 49-60, 3-66). Semifinals: Md Raza beat Anuj Panda 5-1 (49-37, 57-28, 27-73, 63-56, 45-22, 69-23); Nishant Biswal beat Asutosh Padhy 5-4 (68-52, 2-52, 68-39, 6-65, 21-73, 82-24, 72-39, 17-62, 67-26). Final: Nishant Biswal beat Md Raza 6-2 (46-44, 52-23, 79-9, 22-62, 33-45, 52-45, 82-63, 48-45).
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TOP: Successful cueists (L to R): Kunal Agarwal, Md Raza, Nishant Biswal, Rahul Naik, Subrat Das and Avinash Mohapatra with their trophies in Cuttack on Oct 22, 2017.
RIGHT: Junior snooker champion Rahul Naik in action at Cuttack Club on October 12, 2017.