Young Astoush Padhy scored the biggest win of his career, stunning his childhood hero and overwhelming favourite Pankaj Advani to storm in the pre-quarterfinals of the National Snooker Championship here on Wednesday.
Going for broke in almost every shot he attempted, the 21-year-old Odisha cueist left fellow players and members of KSBA in total daze as he swept aside an out of sorts Advani 4-1 (62-36, 75-47, 30-60, 90 (57)-3, 84 (47)-11) in the round-of-32 night clash.
"It's totally unbelievable," said a delighted Padhy, a seven time sub-junior and junior national champion who has now shifted base to Mumbai where trains under Sanjay Sawant and is pursuing a law degree.
"Ever since I started to play snooker, he's been my idol. To be beat my hero is just incredible. I knew the only way I could upset him was to go for my shots. I just went for them and it paid off today."
Considering the form Advani has been in over the last year, collecting titles by the heap, hardly anyone gave Padhy a chance. However, he announced his intentions by winning the opening frame 62-36. One thought that was a fluke but Padhy sent a buzz around KSBA -- where Advani practices -- by taking the second frame 75-47. In both those frames, Padhy took his chances, going for pots even if he had just 50 percent chance.
Advani, though, calmed the atmosphere by taking the third 60-30. Padhy then came out all guns blazing in the fourth, smashing a break of 57 points to clinch it 90-3, putting him just one frame from victory.
Advani, a 31-time national champion and 18-time world champion, then had to produce something extraordinary to prevent one of his earliest exits in any event. But Padhy crushed all those ambitions by rifling in a 47-point break to script one of the most sensational victories in national championships.
Results: Men: Snooker: Round of 32: Asutosh Padhy (Odi) bt Pankaj Advani (PSPB) 4-1 (62-36, 75-47, 30-60, 90 (57)-3, 84 (47)-11); Dilip Kumar (Rlys) bt Ketan Chawla (MP) 4-1 (24-60, 58-49, 74-31, 64-47, 63-16; Kamal Chawla (Rlys) bt Dhruv Verma (Pun) 4-1 (40-42, 68-54, 65-52, 67(53)-7, 88 (88)-0); Divya Sharma (Har) bt K Piyush (MP) 4-1 (62-30, 53-64, 74-16, 52-38, 74-13); Rahul Sachdeva (Mah) bt Sundeep Gulati (Del) 4-0 (65-14, 64-14, 71-15, 73-60); Manan Chandra (PSPB) bt Hasan Badami (Mah) 4-1 (69-3, 68-24, 50-60, 74-50, 61-7); Lucky Vatvani (Tel) bt Varun Madan (Del) 4-1 (73 (68)-36, 27-68, 78-27, 102 (80)-19, 67-1); Malkeet Singh (Rlys) bt Arvind Kumar (Rlys) 4-1 (39-73 (69), 79 (54)-5, 57-35, 62-17, 99-5).
Round of 64: Piyush Kushwa (MP) bt Nitesh Madan (RSPB) 4-1 (24-62, 65-29, 56-21, 72-13, 63-27); Dharminder Lilly (Pun) bt E Pandurangaiah (Rlys) 4-3 (58-64, 78-28, 66-54, 64-9, 24-62, 11-63, 68-25); Laxman Rawat (PSPB) beat Paras Gupta (UP) 4-1 (97-23, 80 (80)-0, 83 (68)-16, 0-74 (74), 62-54); Rahul Sachdeva (Mah) bt Abhimanyu Gandhi (Mah) 4-1 (28-75, 63-58, 85-5, 73 (62)-43, 96 (65)-9); Malkeet Singh (Rlys) bt Pranit R (TN) 4-3 (40-79, 61-28, 76-7, 58-7, 20-59, 13-81, 71-58); Hasan Badami (Mah) bt Anurag Giri (MP) 4-3 (2-51, 68-49, 15-92, 15-78, 69-21, 71-11, 62-19); Kamal Chawla (Rlys) bt Digvijay Kadian (Har) 4-0 (56-14, 67 (55)-50, 70-42, 100-16); Pushpender Singh (Rlys) bt Dhruv Sitwala (PSPB) 4-1 (99 (84)-31, 0-92 (63), 74-12, 74 (51)-16, 65-52); Himanshu Jain (Tlg) bt Vishal Gundrecha (Guj) 4-1 (108-26, 49-78, 82-2, 58-49, 68-15); Varun Madan (Del) bt B Bhaskar (Kar) 4-1 (77 (63)-19, 5-74, 70-21, 77-15, 81 (57)-4).
Women: Snooker: Group B: Arantxa Sanchis (MAH) bt B Vaishnavi (AP) 2-0; Arantxa S bt Soumini Srinivas (TN) 2-0.
Group C: Varshaa Sanjeev (Kar) bt Anshu Khanna (Ukd) 2-0; Varshaa S bt Neeta Sanghvi 2-0.
Group D: Vidya Pillai (Kar) bt Neeta Kothari (WB) 2-0; Vidya Pillai bt Arya Pimpale 2-0.
Group E: Chitra M (Kar) bt Shilpa S (Kar) 2-0; Chitra M bt Ishika Shah 2-0.
Group F: Keerath Bhandaal (Del) bt Sunita Khandelwal (MP) 2-0; Keerath B bt Keerthana P 2-1.
Group H: R Umadevi Nagaraj (Kar) bt Pooja Galundia (Raj) 2-1; Anupama R (TN) bt R Umadevi N 2-1.
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