Ashutosh Padhy, winner of national sub-junior snooker title.Telegraph picture

Bhubaneswar, July 24: If it was billiards last time, this year Orissa boy Ashutosh Padhy made the state proud in snooker at the national championships going on in Chennai.

The cueist, a Class IX student, won the sub-junior title on Friday in the fourth edition of the national sub-junior snooker championships.

Fourteen-year-old Ashutosh, who had clinched the doubles title (billiards and snooker) in last month’s state championships to qualify for the nationals, had initially upset his fans by not being able to defend his nationals sub-junior billiards title by losing to Utsav Ramani of Gujarat in the quarter-finals.

However, he more than made-up for the loss by showcasing a brilliant performance in the past three rounds of the battle for the snooker title.

He defeated Vikrant Kapoor (Punjab) in the quarter-finals and Ishpreet Singh (Maharashtra) in the semi-finals. In the finals, he trounced defending champion Dhvaj Haria 2-0, who claimed the sub-junior billiards title this time.

“I was in constant touch with him. Despite his loss in billiards, he continued performing confidently in the snookers rounds. Now that he has a sub-junior national title, he is aiming at the junior billiards and snookers title,” said state senior rank one cueist Subrat Das, coach of Ashutosh.

Subrat left for Chennai on Saturday to participate in the senior championships.

Last year’s victory in billiards had made Ashutosh the first player across all age categories from the state to win a nationals title in cue sports.

With two national titles already in his pocket already, the teenager aims to be a world champion.

“I religiously spend at least six hours in practice. Winning the state championships has boosted my confidence. I wish to become a world champion when I play for the senior level,” said Ashutosh to The Telegraph, before leaving for the nationals.

The young cueist is an ardent football lover and loves surfing the net, especially the social networking sites.