Bengaluru: Ashutosh Padhy of Odisha stunned 17-time world champion Pankaj Advani by beating him in the round-of-32 night clash of the senior national men’s snooker championship here on Wednesday.
Padhy, the 21-year-old cueist, swept aside Advani 4-1 (62-36, 75-47, 30-60, 90 (57)-3, 84 (47)-11) to storm into the pre-quarterfinals of the championship.
A seven-time sub-junior and junior national champion, Padhy is staying in Mumbai to train under coach Sanjay Sawant and pursuing a law degree.
After Geet Sethi, Pankaj Advani and Dhvaj Haria, Padhy is the fourth player to win hat-trick in a national championship.