The inaugural edition of the Kho Kho World Cup starts on January 13, Monday. The competition, backed by the Indian Olympic Association has a total of 39 teams featuring in the first edition. There are a total of 20 men’s teams and 19 women’s team, who are competing for title.

The tournament is just one week long, with four groups of five teams each. Indian men’s team is grouped with Nepal, Peru, Brazil and Bhutan and will play one opponent per day. India will also play the opener of the tournament against Nepal. The top two teams from each group will qualify for the quarter-finals of the competition. The knockouts will be played between 17-19 January. The final match is scheduled for 7 PM IST on 19 January, Sunday.

Kho Kho World Cup: Men’s Teams

Group A: India, Nepal, Peru, Brazil, Bhutan
Group B: South Africa, Ghana, Argentina, Netherlands, Iran
Group C: Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Republic of Korea, United States of America, Poland
Group D: England, Germany, Malaysia, Australia, Kenya

Kho Kho World Cup: Women’s Teams

What is Kho Kho?

Kho Kho is believed to have originated in the Maharashtra region of India. The game was originally played on chariots, known as ratha in Hindi, and was called Rathera. The game was also known as Kho Dhwani Krida, which translates to “a game where the sound ‘kho’ is made”. An indigenous Indian sport, Kho Kho has evolved from being played on muddy surfaces to being played on mats.

The rules and regulations for Kho Kho were written by Pune’s Deccan Gymkhana in 1914 that gave the sport a structured look. The first rule book of Kho Kho was written by Bal Gangadhar Tilak.

The first national Kho Kho championship was held in 1959 in Vijayawada, India, under the auspices of the Kho-kho Federation of India (KKFI) and the sport was also demonstrated at the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin.

Kho Kho was also demonstrated during the 1982 Asian Games in New Delhi and the first-ever Asian Championship was held in Kolkata in 1996. It was also a medal sport at the South Asian Games 2016 in Guwahati.

Kho Kho: Total number of players in a team

A Kho Kho team has nine players. There are, however, 12 players in each Kho Kho team match squad. The remaining three can be brought on as substitutes.

Kho Kho World Cup: Rules

A Kho Kho match starts with a coin toss. The winning captain puts his hands up and points their index finger towards either the central line, signalling a chase, or the side lines, signalling a defence.

The chasing team takes the field for the chase. Eight players take a sitting position, crouched in the eight small rectangles formed by the intersection of the central and cross lanes.

Consecutive chasers cannot face in the same direction and have to take their positions facing opposite side lines. The ninth chaser, called the attacker or active chaser, starts the match from one of the free zones.

The defending team, meanwhile, sends in a group of three defenders for the start of the match.

As per Kho Kho rules, the match starts with the active chaser trying to tag (or touch) one of the three defenders.

However, a chaser’s movement is restricted during a chase. A chaser can only run in the direction in which they take their first step in, also called taking direction. The active chaser can also not cross over the central lane while chasing the defenders.

If the chaser wants to change direction or cross to the other half of the central line, they will need to enter the free zone, touch the pole and change direction or halves, which makes the chase challenging.

However, they can tag one of their fellow inactive chasers while uttering the word ‘Kho’ to hand over the chase to them. The instant a ‘Kho’ is made, the tagged chaser becomes the active chaser and the one who gives the ‘Kho’ becomes inactive and has to sit down in the now active chaser’s position.

Generally, Khos are given when a defender crosses over to the other end of the central lane, so tagging in a chaser facing that direction of the court is always the norm. Tags or Khos to chasing team-mates are generally made on the back, between the shoulder and waist. If a teammate extends his arm or feet for a Kho, it is deemed illegal.

Once a defender is touched by a chaser, the chasing team wins a point and the tagged defender leaves the field of play. Once all three defenders are out, the defending team sends in the next batch of three defenders.

The batch of three for each group of defenders and the sequence in which each batch enters needs to remain the same during a turn.

Also, an attacker who tags the last remaining defender of a batch cannot continue the chase. They need to ‘Kho’ or tag in a team-mate to initiate the chase on the new batch of defenders.

Traditionally teams send in their best three defenders first to eat up as much of the designated time as possible. Once the nine minutes are up, the chasing team becomes the defending team and the second turn of the innings is played out.

The sequence repeats for another innings and the team with the most points wins, according to Kho Kho rules.

The captain of the chasing team, however, can end the first innings turn before the regulation time, much like declarations in cricket, as long as they have scored more than nine points. In the second innings, a captain can end the turn at any time.

Follow-on in Kho Kho

Also, like cricket’s follow-on, the team which chases first in Kho Kho has the option of enforcing a ‘follow-on’ on their opposition if they have a lead of over six or eight points in the first innings.

If a follow-on is enforced, the trailing team chases first in the second innings and the team which enforced the follow-on can take their chasing turn last if the opposition manages to erase the deficit.

Like football, the concepts of yellow and red cards exist in Kho Kho. Cards are given out for violations like disorderly behaviour, overly aggressive tackles or for a variety of other technical fouls.

The yellow card is the first caution and two yellow cards in a match means the player will need to sit out the remainder of the match and the next match of a particular tournament.

Two yellow cards accumulated in different matches of a tournament will force the player to miss the next match. A direct red card, meanwhile, results in suspension from the ongoing match and the next match of the tournament.

Kho Kho World Cup: Know rules and regulations, teams, groups