Kho kho: Difference between revisions

Traditional Indian tag game played in teams

Kho kho

Kho kho playing in Govt middle school, Nallambal, Karaikal
First played	India
Contact	permitted
Team members	12 players per side, 9 in the field and 3 extra
Equipment	None (except the two poles on the court)
Country or region	Indian subcontinent

Kho kho is a traditional Indian sport that dates back to ancient India.^[1][2] It is the second-most popular traditional tag game in the Indian subcontinent after kabaddi.^[3] Kho kho is played on a rectangular court with a central lane connecting two poles which are at either end of the court. During the game, nine players from the chasing team (attacking team) are on the field, with eight of them sitting (crouched) in the central lane, while three runners from the defending team run around the court and try to avoid being touched.^[2] Each sitting player on the chasing team faces the opposite direction of their adjacent teammates.

At any time, one player on the chasing team (the ‘active chaser’/’attacker’) may run around the court to attempt to tag (touch) members of the defending team, with one point scored per tag, and each tagged defender required to leave the field; however, the active chaser cannot cross the central lane to access the other half of the field, and can not change direction once they start running toward either pole. The chasing team can get around these restrictions if the active chaser either switches roles with a sitting teammate (by touching them on the back while saying “Kho”) who is facing the other half of the court and therefore has access to it, or runs to the area behind either pole and then switches direction/half. Each team has two turns to score and two turns to defend, with each turn lasting nine minutes. The team that scores the most points by the end of the game wins.^[4]

The sport is widely played across South Asia, and also has a strong presence in the regions outside South Asia, such as South Africa and England. It is played most often by school children in India and Pakistan and is a competitive game.^[5] The first league of its kind called Ultimate Kho Kho was unveiled in India in August 2022.^[6]

Etymology[edit]

The name comes from Marathi: खोखो (khō-khō),^[7] the word kho is an onomatopoeia of the sound invoked while playing the game.^[8]

History[edit]

Certain aspects of kho-kho’s gameplay may have been mentioned in the Mahabharata. In pre-modern times, it is believed that a version of kho-kho known as Rathera was played on chariots (rath meaning “chariot” in Hindi). The modern form of the game was invented in 1914, with its rules and formalised structure being given by Pune’s Deccan Gymkhana club. Kho-kho was demonstrated at the 1936 Berlin Olympics alongside other traditional Indian games. It is now a medal sport in the South Asian Games, having been played in the 2016 edition.^[4]

In July 2022, the player draft for Ultimate Kho Kho was completed, which is a six-team franchise-based Indian Kho Kho tournament. Its inaugural season ran from August 14 to September 4, 2022.
In 2016 world’s first social media network named KHO-KHO CHAMPIONS founded by PRINCE RAJ. This media network promotes the game from grassroot level and also provied all news and updates. for more you can visit website khokhochampions.com^[9]