As many as seventeen players, including second seed Priyanka Vora of JB Vachha, third seed Niharika Thakkar, Swati Thipsay and Michelle Fizardo of St Joseph, jointly lead the field of 70 with two points each. Each player will play eight rounds in a Swiss League.Yogita outwitted Shilpa Mehra of Activity School in 24 rounds in the first round, and overcame the tough defence of Priyanka Khalwadekar (St Joseph, Bandra) in 36 moves in the second.

Sasane holds Bhatt

SUNIL SASANE of the NSD Industrial Home for the Blind created a flutter at the University Club House last evening when he held National blind champion Vilesh Bhatt in a top-board duel of the Fifth State Chess Championsip forthe Blind.Second seed Madan Bagayatkar (Canara Bank) was made to toil for four hours by Sanjay Karandikar before he emerged victoriuos. Bagaytkar's fourth round win saw him share the lead with fourth seed Swapnil Shah, Shirish Patil and Nilesh Bendre all of whom have four points each.Fr Agnel rout CYS

FATHER AGNEL trounced Colaba Young Stars 6-1 in a Gulf Oil WIFA Senior Division football league match at the Cooperage today. Sebastian Endro made most of the goal binge netting a hat-trick while Thomas Terrence, Ean Antao and Harish More scored one each. Sofiyan Ansari reduced the margin for Colaba Stars.

In another Senior Division match, MS Police got past Dadar XI B 3-1. Abdul Fiam scored a brace while Abdul Abid scored the third goal for Policemen. Deepak Diwakalar scored for the losers.

Dadar XI A drew with Times of India 1-1 in a Division II match at the Goan Sports Association ground. Kaushik Waghela scored for the winners while N Sawant found the net for losers.

Companeroes beat BombayMuslims 1-0 in a Div I match. Vikram D'Souza scored the matchwinner.

Fed Cup Carrom

Bihar State Carrom Association will simultaneously host the 16th Sub-Junior National and Inter-State Carrom Championship for boys and girls, and the 6th Federation Cup tournament for men and women, from September 18 to 22.

The event will be held at Indian Oil Township, Barauni. As many as 34 states and union territories, and institutions are expected to participate.