Bhubaneswar: Ace cueist of the state Ashutosh Padhy has been given a wild card and invited to play in the Indian Open – a World Professional Snooker ranking tournament at Vishakhapatnam, September 12-16.
Ashutosh will face World No. 51 Andrew Higginson of England in his first match, September 12. If he wins his best of seven frames encounter, then he will play his second match, September 17. The participation in the professional snooker championships will be Ashutosh’s most important tournament till date in his career.
The qualifying competition for the tournament recently took place at Preston, England, August 1-2. This will be the fourth edition of the Indian Open. Last year it was played in Hyderabad while the first two editions took place in New Delhi (2014) and Mumbai (2015).
The world professional ranking tournaments are regulated by World Professional Billiard and Snooker Association at Bristol, England. These rankings give seedings positions for international tournaments.
In the upcoming Indian Open, other than Ashutosh, five other Indian cueists got wild card entries. They are Laxman Rawat, Lucky Vatnani, Pandu Rangiah, Malkeet Singh and S Shrikrishna.
This is the maiden entry of Ashutosh in a world ranking event. “I am pretty excited that I have got the chance to showcase my skills in a tournament of such huge stature. I am practicing hard to perform well,” he stated.
Ashutosh is currently India’s No.1 in the U-21 snooker category and No.2 in the U-21 billiards category. He has so far won seven Indian National Championships titles and two runner-up titles.
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