In the semi-final played here today Poona Club defeated Maharashtra Gymkhana by eight wickets while Deccan Gymkhana overcame Vilas Club in similar margin.

Maharashtra Gymkhana batting first were bundled out for 128 runs with Shekhar Gawali 5/26 and Subhash Ranjane 3/20 doing most of the damage. Intikhab Alam was the only major contributor who scored 48 runs.

Poona Club attained their target effortlessly after losing two early wickets. Former Indian cricket team member Hrishikesh Kanitkar, along with the Sandeep Lele saw their side safely through with impressive scores of 64 and 54 respectively.

In the other semi-final which saw both teams play two innings each, Deccan Gymkhana emerged victorious. After holding on to a 32 run lead from the first innings they easily achieved the paltry target of 94 after restricting Vilas Club to 125 in their second innings.

Brief Scores: Maharashtra Gymkhana: 128 all out 5/26, Subhash Ranjane 3/20) lost to Poona Club: 132 for 2 (Hrishikesh Kanitkar 64 n.o, Sandeep Lele 54 n.o.) Result: Maharashtra Gymkhana lost by 8 wkts.

Vilas Club: I innings: 229 all outNadkarni 49, Sagar Shah 32, Parag Chitale 4/71, Shantanu Sugwekar 2/58); II innings: 125 all outGymkhana: I innings: 261 all outAbhijit Pharande 3/64). II innings: 95 for 2. Result: Vilas Club lost by 8 wkts.

Chess tourney from tomorrow
The Chess Sports Trust of Pune will conduct the State level chess meet in the junior under 19 years category for both boys and girls at the Manohar Mangal Karyalay, Pune, from October 27.

The boys section has attracted 70 entries in all with some top seeded players like Abhay Karnatki, Udayan Bapat, Pranav Akolkar (all Pune); Golesh (Aurangabad); Omkar Patwardhan (Sangli) and Akash Thakur (Nagpur) taking part.

In the girls section prominent participants include Asiad Juniors player Nivedita Sagade, Mansi Patil, Ashwini Kulkarni (all Pune), Abha Thakur (Nagpur), Madhuri Patil (Kolhapur), Isha Karvade, Amruta Mokal, Pangha Malgal and Krutika Nadig. The girls section is expected to witness a keen competition with the presence of quite a few noted players. However the tournament will be inaugurated a day earlier at 6.30 p.m.

Shailesh to lead Varsity team
Shailesh Bangale will lead the Pune University waterpolo team in the forthcoming All India Inter-University meet to be held at Chandigarh from October 27 to 31.

The meet will comprise of waterpolo and swimming events.

The Teams
Waterpolo: Shailesh Bangale (Captain, Pune), Amit Kulkarni (Pune), Manish Shivshankar (Pune), Swanand Deshpande (Pune), Niranjan Dixit (Pune), Muneer Taskar (Pune), Shailesh Manohar (Pune), Neeraj Kulkarni (Pune), Rohit Erande (Pune), Mayuresh Jayade (Pune), Pratap Shrotriya (Nasik), Amol Dev (Nasik), Chetan Puranik (Nasik), AK Pande (Manager).