April 12 will be a red-letter day for Odisha cuesports when Subrat Das makes his debut in the IBSF World Billiards Championship 2025 at SBI Academy in Carlow, Ireland. A multi-time State senior billiards and snooker champion, Das will be the first ever cueist from Odisha to compete in the World Billiards Championship.

A total of 36 leading billiards players of the world, including 15 from India, will vie for the title at the Carlow World Championship, which is scheduled to conclude on April 16. The 36 cueists will play league matches in nine groups and the top 24 will qualify for the knock-out stage.

Placed in Group B, Odisha star Subrat Das will meet fellow Indian Rishabh Thakkar and Robert Marshall (England) on April 12. He will take on former World champion Peter Gilchrist (Singapore) in his third and last league match on April 13. India cuesports legend Pankaj Advani will start his campaign as defending champion.

Former world champions Peter Gilchrist (Singapore) and Sourav Kothari (India), along with David Causier (England) and Asian gold medallist Dhruv Sitwala will be seen in action at the World championship, which carries a total prize fund of US$ 10,000, including US$ 5,000 for the winner.

Prior to the IBSF World Championship, Das will also participate in the Irish Open Billiards Championship from April 4 to 6 and the World Matchplay Championship from April 7 to 11 at the same venue in Carlow.

At the Irish Open, Das will compete in Group-F against Larry Drennan (Ireland), Wayne Carey (New Zealand), Jason Dowling (Ireland) and Martin Goodwill (England). For the World Matchplay Championship, Das has been clubbed with Ryan Mears (England), Alex Puan (Singapore), Chris Mitchell (England) and Rishabh Thakkar (India) in Group I.