Its team in India is called Kho- Kho Federation of India (K.K.F.I).
The origin of Kho-Kho is difficult to trace, but many historians believe, that it is a modified form of 'Run Chase', which in its simplest form involves chasing and touching a person. With its origins in Maharashtra, Kho-Kho in ancient times, was played on 'raths' or chariots, and was known as Rathera.
Like all Indian games, it is simple, inexpensive and enjoyable. It does, however, demand physical fitness, strength, speed and stamina, and a certain amount of ability. Dodging, feinting and bursts of controlled speed make this game quite thrilling. To catch by pursuit - to chase, rather than just run - is the capstone of Kho-Kho.The game develops qualities such as obedience, discipline, sportsmanship, and loyalty between team members.
Kho-Kho is a simple game where the players dodge,feint and brust control speed.The main aim of the participants in the game of Kho-Kho is to catch the opponent by pursuit and to chase,rather than just run.
The rules of the game were framed in the beginning of the 20th century. At Gymkhana Poona, a Committee was formed in 1914, to frame its rules. The first ever rules on Kho-Kho were published from Gymkhana Baroda, in 1924. In 1959-60, the first national Kho-Kho championship was organised in Vijayawada (Andhra Pradesh). The Government has initiated the following awards for the game: Arjuna Award, Eklavya Award for men, Rani Laxmi Bai award for women, Veer Abhimanyu award for boys under 18, and Janaki award for girls under 16.
How the game is played(RULES):-
Each team consists of twelve players, but only nine players take the field for a contest. A match consists of two innings. An innings consists of chasing and running turns of 7 minutes each. Eight members of the chasing team sit in their eight squares on the central lane, alternately facing the opposite direction, while the ninth member is an active chaser, and stands at either of the posts, ready to begin the pursuit. Members of the chasing team have to put their opponent out, touching them with their palms, but without committing a foul. All the action in Kho-Kho is provided by the defenders, who try to play out the 7 minutes time, and the chasers who try to dismiss them. A defender can be dismissed in three ways: 1) if he is touched by an active chaser with his palm without committing a foul, 2) if he goes out of the limits on his own, 3) if he enters the limit late.
Defenders enter the limit, in batches of three. After the third and last defender of batch is out, the next batch must enter the limits, before a 'kho' is given by the successful active chaser. Defenders have full freedom of movement on both sides of the central lane, but the active chaser cannot change the direction to which he is committed. He cannot cross the central lane. An active chaser can change position with a seated chaser, by touching him from behind by palm, and uttering the word 'kho' loudly, and simultaneously, chase or attack is build up through a series of 'khos' as the chase continues with a relay of chasers.
At the end of the innings there is an interval of 5 minutes and an interval of 2 minutes, in between the turns. Each side alternates between chasing and defence.
Kho-Kho can be played by men, women, and children of all ages. The game requires a very small piece of evenly surfaced ground, rectangular in shape, and 27m by 15m. The only equipment required are the two poles. The game lasts no more than 37 minutes.
So from the above rules we conclude that-
- Each team consists of 12 players, but only 9 players take the field for a contest.
- A match consists of two innings. An innings consists of chasing and running turns of 9 minutes each.
- Then, 1 team sits/kneels in the middle of the court, in a row, with adjacent members facing opposite directions.
- The chasers can only run in one direction and cannot cut across the sitters unlike the dodgers who can run randomly and in between the sitters.
- They have to run round the entire row to reach the other side.
- The other option is to pass the chasing job to another sitter whose back is facing the chaser as the chaser is running.
- In this option, the chaser touches the sitter he wants,usually nearest to the target and shouts "kho" to signify the change of guard.
- The objective is to tag all the opponents in the shortest time possible.
- The team that takes the shortest time to tag all the opponents in the field, wins
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Schematic representation of a Kho-kho pitch (field). White lines are the markers, black circles are wooden poles (~ 4 feet tall), yellow arrows are chasing team members (facing as the arrow-heads are), blue smiley faces are the defenders (arrive in batches of 3). |
History:-
One of the major attributes of a successful animal life is "ACTIVE CHASE" which is a cardinal principle of the Indian game known as KHO-KHO, synonymous with the phrase "Game of Chase." It won't be incorrect or erroneous to state that KHO-KHO was a recognized sport in ancient times even earlier than the oldest mythological writings of the classics, "Mahabharata." The game of chase was then also a legend as it is used in literary phraseology as "putting KHO to someone's active chase meaning putting an effective block and stopping the progress," like we use the phrase "it isn't Cricket" meaning it is unfair and so on. The present appearance of the game was an adoption about the time of World War I in 1914, but lacked exacting rules and regulations that govern the modern games. There were neither any dimensions to the playground nor the poles which demarcate the central line. Time factor was also missing.
The Deccan Gymkhana of Pune, so named and baptised by the great Indian leader Lokmanya Tilak drafted the first ever rules and regulations which symbolised the metamorphosis of the game soon to follow.The years 1923-24 saw foundation of the Inter School Sports Organisation, and Kho-Kho was introduced to develop at the grass roots and consequently popularise the sport. The move certainly showed the results and the game of Kho-Kho mainly owes it to the efforts taken by the Deccan Gymkhana and Hind Vijay Gymkhana.The end of 1935 saw again some changes and reforms in the rules based on the experience gathered in adopting the code.
1936 was the golden opportunity for the game of Kho-Kho when the Berlin Olympic Games featured an exhibition of Kho-Kho in the main stadium. The Hanuman Vyayam Prasarak Mandal of Amravati were the proud exhibitors.
1938 saw one step forward when Akhil Maharashtra Sharirik Shikshan Mandal organised zonal sports which attracted tremendous response from the budding enthusiasts as well as organizers. This needed yet another few reforms which were adopted in 1943 as well as 1945.
During World War II times, Dr. Nash, a renowned U.S. sports organiser, technician, and expert, visited India and saw the game of Kho-Kho. Impressed to the fullest of the coze, Dr. Nash uttered that India should regard Kho-Kho as its National Sport. In that chunk of time the Hind Vijay Gymkhana and Jumma Dada Vyayam Shala in Baroda, the Sanmitra Sangh and Arya Kridoddharak Mandal were the renowned Kho-Kho teams in Pune. Hind Vijay Gymkhana organised the zonal sports.
The first ever All India Kho-Kho Championships were organised at Vijay Wada in 1959-60 under the auspices of Kho-Kho Federation of India. The then Mumbai province won the championship under the leadership of Rajabhau Jeste who was a champion player, expert commentator and redoubtable coach made in one. The years 1960-61 featured Women's Championships for the first time.
Individual prizes were installed in 1963. Man of the Tournament Award "Ekalavya Award"was won by Vishwanath Mayekar. The Woman of the Tournament Award "Rani Laxmibai Award" was claimed by Usha Anantham of Mysore.
The years 1969-70 featured the junior age group competitions at Hyderabad. Youth under 18 and Boys under 16 of age were two new categories introduced where Hemant Jogdeo of Maharashtra was adjudged as the best youth player of the year and was honoured by Abhimanyu Award. Women's junior group Girls under 16 were held in 1974 at Dewas when two more sub-junior groups Boys under 14 and Girls under 12 also commenced yearly championship tournament every year where the best sub-juniors were awarded 'Bharat Award' and 'Veer Bala Award' boys and girls respectively.The Gold Cup Championships never ran smoothly year to year but had periodical haults due to non-availability of sponsor groups. So far the championship has been conducted 14 times for "ALL COMERS "where Madhyastha Ramal Baroda are 3 time winners, Gujarat Kreeda Mandal also of Baroda won 2 times, Sanmitra Sangh of Pune won 1 time and Nav Maharashtra Sangh of Pune won 8 times, achieving 'Hat-Trick' twice.Last five or seven years Women of West Bengal and Kerala are also making their presence felt, Manipur and Punjab Women are not far behind.The game of chase as was a favourite pasture of many renowned sportsmen like Bapu Nadkarni, Pranav Roy of Cricket, Nandu Natekar of Badminton, athletes Angel Mary and Sunder Shetty, Basketball stalwart Meera Deviyyah, Footballer Alok Mukherji and several others who made their mark in International Sports field.
National Institute of Sports Netaji Subhash Institute included Kho-Kho in their curriculum since 1971 as six weeks schedule. In 1976 it was raised to 10 months schedule.
Indian Olympic Association included Kho-Kho in 1982. 1989 saw Kho-Kho as a 'demonstration' in 'Asian Games' Festival. In 1987 again a demonstration was held in 'South Asian Games' and Asian Kho-Kho Federation came into existence with major membership though of only three countries which soon became a seven nation Federation under the Presidency of Shri. Sharadchandra Saha and Mukund Ambardekar was elected as Hon. Gen. Secretary.1998 saw the first ever International Championship held at Kolkata. Sponsors from various fields have been attached to this great game and Bank of Maharashtra has developed their first ever team of Professional players when others like Indian Railways are about to follow the suit.
Since early 2000, the sport have found considerable popularity in Bangladesh with many good players getting national fame. One notable name is Ruksat Ahmed, who won the 2005 Junior Regional Championship in Dhaka. Since then she has participated in various national tournaments and won multiple times before finally retiring in 2010 as National Champion. It is a pity she could not take part in international competitions because of lack of support from the Bangladesh Kho-Kho Federation.Watching the Kho-Kho Championship, prerson no less calibred than Shri. Vijay Merchant, the idol of Indian Cricket, uttered "Hm, sadly mistaken I was so far when I imagined Cricket as a manly game and Kho-Kho as a feminine enterprise.... How earnestly now I feel exactly the other way round and feel sorry for not having played Kho-Kho in the childhood."
Little Master Sunil Gavaskar too was so apologetic for having neglected this game in the childhood and uttered "had I ever even the slightest of the idea of this grand spectacle, perhaps I'd have preferred Kho-Kho to Cricket for ever."
Such a game of skill, strength and extreme elegance coupled with tremendous requirement of tenacity and stamina is a Grand Indian Game of Chase.
Domestic seasons and tournaments:-
The following championships are organised for this game:
National Championships, Junior National, Sub Junior National Championship, School Championship, Mini School Championship, Primary Mini School Championship, National Women Championship, All India Inter University Championship and Federation Cup.
Organisations involved with the sport in India:-
The primary sports body for this game is called the Kho-Kho Federation of India (K.K.F.I.). It has its branches in all the states and it has been conducting Mini, Junior and Open National Championships for both sexes, in many parts of India.
Key Players:-
A number of players have bagged the Arjuna Award. Some of these players are:
Shri Shekhar Dharwadkar, Shri Shrirang Inamdar, Usha Nagarkar, Nilima Sarolkar, Achala Devare.
Equipment:-
The equipments used in Kho- Kho are posts, strings, measuring tape (metallic), lime powder, wire nails, two watches, two types of rings having inner circumference of 30cm and 40cm, score sheets and stationery to write results etc.
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