Ultimate Kho Kho

Last updated

Ultimate Kho Kho
Most recent season or competition:
2023–24 Ultimate Kho Kho
Ultimate Kho Kho Logo.svg
Sport Kho Kho
Founded2022
First season 2022
CEO Tenzing Niyogi
No. of teams6
CountryFlag of India.svg  India
Most recent
champion(s)
Gujarat Giants
(2023–24)
Most titles Odisha Juggernauts
Gujarat Giants
(1 each)
Official website Website
Sports current event.svg 2023–24 Ultimate Kho Kho

Ultimate Kho Kho, abbreviated as UKK is an Indian franchise-based kho-kho league. [1] Hosted by the Kho Kho Federation of India, it was founded in 2022. [2] The first season had a viewership of 64 million, 41 million of which came from India, making UKK the third-most viewed non-cricket sports tournament in India after the Pro Kabaddi League and the Indian Super League. [2]

Contents

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$24 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. [9] It was confirmed that for Season 3, some foreign players will participate. [10]

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. [11]

Format

UKK uses a modified set of rules referred to by the International Kho Kho Federation as the "fast format", as opposed to the standard "test format". [12] The following modifications apply: [13] [14] [15]

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

Team [23] CityDebutHead Coach
Chennai Quick Guns Chennai 2022
Gujarat Giants Ahmedabad 2022
Mumbai Khiladis Mumbai 2022
Odisha Juggernauts Bhubaneswar 2022
Rajasthan Warriors Jaipur 2022
Telugu Yoddhas 2022

Editions and results

SeasonFinalTeamsPlayer of the SeasonRef
WinnerScorelineRunner-upVenue
2022 Odisha Juggernauts 46–45 Telugu Yoddhas Shree Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex, Pune 6 Ramji Kashyap [24]
2023–24 Gujarat Giants 31–26 Chennai Quick Guns Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor Stadium, Cuttack Ramji Kashyap [25]

Team performance

By season

Team CQG GG MK OJ RW TY
2022 4th3rd5thC6thRU
2023–24 RUC5th3rd6th4th

By position

Year1st2nd3rd4th5th6th
2022 GG OJ TY CQG MK PW
2023–24 CQG OJ GG TY MK PW

Awards

SeasonPlayer of the TournamentRising Star of the Tournament [c] Attacker of the TournamentDefender of the TournamentRef
2022 Ramji Kashyap of Chennai Quick Guns Madan of Chennai Quick Guns Abhinandan Patil of Gujarat Giants Deepak Madhav of Telugu Yoddhas [24]
2023–24 Shubham Thorat of Gujarat Giants Pratik Waikar of Telugu Yoddhas Aditya Ganpule of Telugu Yoddhas [25]

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 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. 15 March 2021. 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 (29 August 2022). ""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. PTI (13 June 2025). "International players to feature in Ultimate Kho Kho Season 3 beginning on Nov 29". ThePrint. Retrieved 21 June 2025.
  11. "Ultimate Kho Kho becomes first Indian sports league to secure PE investment". Business Standard.
  12. "General 4". International Kho Kho Federation. Archived from the original on 7 October 2024. Retrieved 2 October 2024.
  13. 1 2 3 "Ultimate Kho Kho: Shorter duration, more points for acrobatic tags among new rules for the league". Scroll.in. 17 May 2019. Retrieved 17 July 2022.
  14. 1 2 3 Understanding The Game Play - KHO-KHO , retrieved 15 July 2022
  15. 1 2 3 "Ultimate Kho Kho Rules | Update New rules of Kho Kho". KHO KHO. Retrieved 16 July 2022.
  16. 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.
  17. 1 2 3 "Ultimate Kho Kho: Squads, format, fixtures – all you need to know about latest Indian sports league". Scroll.in. 14 August 2022. Retrieved 14 August 2022.
  18. 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.
  19. Upadhyay, Maanas (24 January 2024). ""If I'm worried about whether he got two or three points, then I'll miss out on that"- UKK CEO Tenzing Niyogi divulges reason for scoring rule changes". www.sportskeeda.com. Retrieved 7 February 2024.
  20. 1 2 3 "rules-season1.pdf". Google Docs. Retrieved 14 August 2022.
  21. "Ultimate Kho Kho revolutionises traditional sport: Expanding, innovating and inspiring". Sakshi Post. 24 December 2023. Retrieved 24 December 2023.
  22. "Ultimate Kho Kho Season 2: All your FAQs answered". Ultimate Kho Kho. 2023. Retrieved 24 December 2023.
  23. "Ultimate Kho Kho League: 143 Players Picked In Season One Draft | Other Sports News". NDTVSports.com. Retrieved 15 July 2022.
  24. 1 2 "A Glance at the Season Award Winners of Ultimate Kho Kho Season 1". Ultimate Kho Kho. Retrieved 7 October 2022.
  25. 1 2 "Meet the Kings of Ultimate Kho Kho Season 2". Ultimate Kho Kho. 19 January 2024. Retrieved 21 January 2024.
  1. Certain other dimensions of the playing field are changed as well. For example, the boxes which the sitting chasers squat in have been turned into 40cm squares.
  2. The attacking team can select any of its on-court players to be the active attacker at the start of the new batch. A kho does not need to be given by the attacker after the break.
  3. Known in Season 1 as the Young Player of the Tournament