Ultimate Kho Kho
Most recent season or competition:
2023-24
SportKho Kho
Founded2022
Inaugural season2022
CEOTenzing Niyogi
No. of teams6
CountryIndia
Most recent
champion(s)		Gujarat Giants (1st title)
(2023-24)
Most titlesOdisha Juggernauts (1 title)
Official websitehttps://www.ultimatekhokho.com/
Current sports event 2023-24 Ultimate Kho Kho

Ultimate Kho Kho (UKK)[1] is an Indian franchise-based kho-kho league started in 2022. It is hosted in collaboration by Dabur with the Kho Kho Federation of India.[2] The inaugural season had a viewership of 64 million, 41 million of which came from India,[2] making UKK the third-most viewed non-cricket competition in India after the Pro Kabaddi League and the Indian Super League.[2]

History

Several changes were made to the standard rules of kho-kho in UKK in order to make the game more exciting and presentable on television.[3] Sony Pictures Network India signed a 5-year deal to broadcast UKK, and will invest ₹200 crore (US$25 million) into the league over the 5 years.[4]

There are plans to launch a women's version of UKK in a few years' time.[5][6] Future editions of UKK will expand to have eight to ten teams (potentially including a team from Northeast India),[7][8] with venues in multiple cities to be used, and some foreign players to be allowed to participate.[9]

Before the start of the second season, UKK became the first Indian sports league to secure private equity-based funding, receiving it from a UK-based group.[10]

Rules

UKK rules follow the standard rules of Kho Kho with the following exceptions:[11][12][13]

  • Only 7 players from the attacking (chasing) team are on the field.[14][15][16]
  • The playing field is only 22 meters long and 16 meters wide.[14][15][16]
  • 2 points are scored per tag.[17]
  • If a batch of defenders can avoid being completely dismissed for at least 3 minutes (known as a "Dream Run"), they earn 1 point, and then an extra point for every 30 seconds survived afterwards.[18][19]
  • One attacking player (known as the wazir) may run in any direction when acting as the active attacker.[11][12][13]
  • The attacking team can take a powerplay in each of their attacking turns during which they have two wazirs. Each powerplay lasts until all 3 defenders of the current batch are out.[14][15][16]
  • Each team's turn to score/defend lasts 7 minutes, with the break time between turns also shortened.[11][12][13]
  • Tiebreaker (named "Minimum Chase"): Each team gets one additional turn to score (with the powerplay being active), and the team that scores its first point the fastest wins.[20]

Terminology

The game is split into two innings, each of which is split into two turns of seven minutes each. An interval of 3 minutes is taken after the end of the first inning, while a break of 2 minutes is taken after the end of the first and third turns respectively.[20]

Teams

Locations of the UKK teams
Mumbai Khiladis
Mumbai Khiladis
Rajasthan Warriors
Rajasthan Warriors
Telugu Yoddhas
Telugu Yoddhas
Gujarat Giants
Gujarat Giants
Odisha Juggernauts
Odisha Juggernauts
Chennai Quick Guns
Chennai Quick Guns
Locations of the UKK teams

The six teams are named Chennai Quick Guns, Gujarat Giants, Mumbai Khiladis, Odisha Juggernauts, Rajasthan Warriors, and Telugu Yoddhas.[21]

Tournament seasons and results

Titles won by each team

Team Title(s) Runner-up Playoffs Seasons won Seasons runner-up Seasons in playoffs No. of seasons played
Odisha Juggernauts 1 - 2 2022 - 2022, 2023-24 2
Telugu Yoddhas - 1 2 - 2022 2022, 2023-24 2
Chennai Quick Guns - 1 2 - 2023-24 2022, 2023-24 2
Gujarat Giants 1 - 2 2023-24 - 2022, 2023-24 2
Mumbai Khiladis - - - - - - 2
Rajasthan Warriors - - - - - - 2

UKK season results

Season Final No. of teams Player of the season
Winner Scoreline Runner-up Venue
2022 Odisha Juggernauts 46-45 Telugu Yoddhas Shree Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex, Pune 6 Ramji Kashyap (CQG)[22]
2023-24 Gujarat Giants 31-26 Chennai Quick Guns Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor Stadium, Cuttack 6

Teams' performances

Team Season
2022 2023-24
Odisha Juggernauts 1st 3rd
Telugu Yoddhas 2nd 4th
Chennai Quick Guns 3rd 2nd
Gujarat Giants 4th 1st
Mumbai Khiladis 5th 5th
Rajasthan Warriors 6th 6th

League stage positions

Team Season
2022 2023-24
Gujarat Giants 1st 3rd
Odisha Juggernauts 2nd 2nd
Telugu Yoddhas 3rd 4th
Chennai Quick Guns 4th 1st
Mumbai Khiladis 5th 5th
Rajasthan Warriors 6th 6th

Awards

Season Player of the Tournament Young Player of the Tournament Attacker of the Tournament Defender of the Tournament
2022[22] Ramji Kashyap (Chennai Quick Guns) Madan (Chennai Quick Guns) Abhinandan Patil (Gujarat Giants) Deepak Madhav (Telugu Yoddhas)

See also

References

  1. ↑ Laghate, Gaurav. "Ultimate Kho Kho franchises pick up 143 players from draft". The Economic Times. Retrieved 15 July 2022.
  2. 1 2 3 Khosla, Varuni (17 January 2023). "Ultimate Kho Kho S1 claims total reach of 41 million viewers from India". mint. Retrieved 18 January 2023.
  3. ↑ "Ultimate Kho Kho — Welcome revival or departure from roots?". sportstar.thehindu.com. 17 September 2022. Retrieved 15 August 2023.
  4. ↑ "Entering the big league, Amit Burman's Ultimate Kho Kho all set to launch this year". Moneycontrol. Retrieved 17 July 2022.
  5. ↑ "Indigenous sport gets modern treatment as Kho Kho is the latest to try league format". The Indian Express. 15 August 2022. Retrieved 15 August 2022.
  6. ↑ R, Gopalakrishnan. ""Women's League in Pipeline": Ultimate Kho Kho CEO Tenzing Niyogi". sportskeeda.com. Retrieved 5 September 2022.
  7. ↑ "'Kho Kho has affection of masses, needs no promotion'". The Indian Express. 17 December 2023. Retrieved 17 December 2023.
  8. ↑ Baparnash, Tridib (16 March 2023). "Making efforts to have a NE team in Ultimate Kho Kho: Mittal". EastMojo. Retrieved 29 August 2023.
  9. ↑ Bhardwaj, Rohit (8 September 2022). "After success of Ultimate Kho Kho Season 1, India's 'maati ka khel' on the trail of global recognition". NEWS9LIVE. Retrieved 21 October 2022.
  10. ↑ "Ultimate Kho Kho becomes first Indian sports league to secure PE investment". Business Standard.
  11. 1 2 3 "Ultimate Kho Kho: Shorter duration, more points for acrobatic tags among new rules for the league". Scroll.in. Retrieved 17 July 2022.
  12. 1 2 3 Understanding The Game Play - KHO-KHO, retrieved 15 July 2022
  13. 1 2 3 "Ultimate Kho Kho Rules | Update New rules of Kho Kho". KHO KHO. Retrieved 16 July 2022.
  14. 1 2 3 Chhabria, Vinay. "Scoring, fouls & more - All the rules of Kho Kho you need to know before Ultimate Kho Kho 2022". sportskeeda.com. Retrieved 14 August 2022.
  15. 1 2 3 "Ultimate Kho Kho: Squads, format, fixtures – all you need to know about latest Indian sports league". Scroll.in. Retrieved 14 August 2022.
  16. 1 2 3 Sharma, Avinash (14 August 2022). "Ultimate Kho Kho 2022: Revamped format, changed mat dimensions, tickets; all you need to know". MyKhel. Retrieved 14 August 2022.
  17. ↑ "Odisha: Cuttack gears up for Ultimate Kho Kho Season 2". Odisha Diary, Latest Odisha News, Breaking News Odisha. 23 December 2023. Retrieved 23 December 2023.
  18. ↑ "Ultimate Kho Kho revolutionises traditional sport: Expanding, innovating and inspiring". Sakshi Post. 24 December 2023. Retrieved 24 December 2023.
  19. ↑ "Ultimate Kho Kho Season 2: All your FAQs answered". Ultimate Kho Kho. 2023. Retrieved 24 December 2023.
  20. 1 2 "rules-season1.pdf". Google Docs. Retrieved 14 August 2022.
  21. ↑ "Ultimate Kho Kho League: 143 Players Picked In Season One Draft | Other Sports News". NDTVSports.com. Retrieved 15 July 2022.
  22. 1 2 "A Glance at the Season Award Winners of Ultimate Kho Kho Season 1". Ultimate Kho Kho. Retrieved 7 October 2022.
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