Pune in line for a grand double

Pune: Shriddha Chavan and Diksha Jori snapped up seven points each as the women’s team of Vegwaan Pune stormed into the final first before the triumvirate of Ganesh Kamble, Chetan Paradhe and Vivek Ghule fought off well in the last match of the day to steer men’s team too in the final, in the 4th edition of the Pune League Kabaddi championship at the Boxing Hall of Balewadi Sports Complex here on Saturday.

The final action of the day of semifinals saw Vegwaan Pune men’s team race part Baladdhyay Baramati in one of the keenly contested semifinal that at one point seemed tilting towards Baramati team, but Pune held on to score 32-24 win.
For Vegwaan Pune, Satish Patil, Vivek Ghule, Chetan Paradhe and Ganesh Kamble played in tandem and earned crucial points to register the famous win that gave them a chance to go for a grand double on the final day of action on Sunday.
With Vegwaan Pune making it to both women’s and men’s final, it will be an interesting outing for hosts, who have been a revelation this time around.

Pune led 15-12 at halftime with Ganesh Kamble doing bulk of the scoring.

Baramati had to pay price for their complacency as they let Pune off the hook after having closed in the contest to 23-21, but Ganesh Kamble did fantastic job when Pune was reduced to only two players.

Earlier, Shivneri Junnar scored an enterprising 37-31 win after being down 13-18 at halftime. 

Akshay Jadhav, Mayur Tamboli and Abhimanyu Gavade played superbly to win quick points. Akshay was more aggressive as he won 13 points including three bonus as Shivneri regrouped well after the break to go 21-20 up before final breaking ahead.

Pimpri vs Pune in women

Laybhaari Pimpri Chinchawad was boosted by Afreen’s 11 points as they began with a bang to establish clear lead at the start itself. Afreen found assistance from Aditi Jadhav as Zunzaar Khed went into defensive and lost the plot.

The second semifinal saw Pune beat Maay Mulshi 21-17thanks to Shraddha Chavan and Diksha Jori’s seven points apiece. 

It was a tantalizingly close match with the two teams tied 17-17 with only two minutes remaining on the clock before Diksha 
won a tackle point to put Pune ahead.

Semi-finals

Men:
Shivneri Junnar 37 (Akshay Jadhav 13, Bablu Giri 10, Rushikesh Bankar 7) beat Maay Mulshi 31 (Yogesh Lugade 5).
Vegwaan Pune 32 (Ganesh Kamble 7, Chetan Paradhe 5, Vivek Ghule 5) beat Baladdhyay Baramati 24(Somnath Lokhande 9, Nilesh Kalbhere 6, Adam Shaikh 5).

Women:
Laybhaari Pimpri-Chinchwad 23 (Afreen 11, Aditi Jadhav 4) beat Zunzaar Khed 19 (Ritika Honmane 11Satyava Haladkeri 5).
Vegwaan Pune 21 (Shraddha Chavan 7, Diksha Jori 7, Dhanashree Sanas 3) beat Maay Mulshi 17 (Tejal Patil 6, Pranali Ambekar 3, Sakshi Gavade 3).