Nepal's Kho Kho Seeks Extra Care

The young generation of Nepal was awestruck when they learnt that the nation’s men’s and women’s teams had entered the finals of the Kho Kho World Cup against the hosts, India. The final was held in the New Delhi-based Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium. 

Nepalis are fond of supporting one another when an individual or a squad represents the country globally. Thus, since the beginning of the World Cup campaign on January 13 to play against India in the finals in both categories, the number of supporters for Nepali Kho Kho increased.

However, most of Nepal’s new generations were unaware of the game and its rules when the nation finished second at the World Cup, which saw 23 countries across six continents featuring 20 men’s and 19 women’s teams.

The Nepali women’s team lost only one game throughout the tournament, in the final against India. In the men’s team’s case, they lost to India at the tournament opener and then kept a winning streak before losing to the host again, this time in the final. Nevertheless, the final results were enough to spark a nationwide interest in the game that had lost its touch in Nepal.

While only a few youngsters were aware of the sport, of late, in Nepal, the adults and elderly are not new to the traditional sport of South Asia, especially India.

History

Several of my seniors shared their memories of the game when they found that Nepal was playing in the Kho Kho World Cup. According to them, they played Kho Kho in their school days a couple of decades back, a trend that does not exist currently.

Kho Kho’s influence in Nepal dates many decades back, and it is not surprising knowing how old the sport is in neighbouring India. Kho Kho is a traditional sport like kabaddi, and its exact origin is yet unknown; however, in the Indian subcontinent, including Nepal, the sport has been alive for centuries. 

“Experts believe that Kho Kho originated in the Maharashtra region of India and in ancient times was played on chariots and was called Rathera. Rath is the Sanskrit translation for a chariot. The present version of Kho Kho, played by individuals on foot, originated in 1914 at the time of the First World War,” read an article on Kho Kho by the Olympics.

And it has been the activeness of India in recent years that Kho Kho now abides by the standard of other modern and popular sports. It was also under India’s leadership that an international federation for Kho Kho was established in 2018. 

The IKKF currently has 46 countries as its members. Of them, 14 are Asian nations: India, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Iran, South Korea, Indonesia, Malaysia, UAE, Singapore, Thailand, and Azerbaijan. 

Furthermore, the sport is getting more attention in Africa as 14 countries, such as Ghana, Kenya, Mali, South Africa, Uganda, Egypt, Nigeria, and Mauritius, have gained membership under the IKKF. 

Also, European countries like England, Germany, the Netherlands, and Poland; North American nations of the USA and Canada; and South American countries Argentina and Peru; alongside Australia, Fiji, and New Zealand, are members of the IKKF.

The IKKF looks forward to including Kho Kho in the 2036 Olympics, for which the sport will be expanded to more than 50 countries, a statement that was also stressed by IKKF President Sudhanshu Mittal during the World Cup finals on January 19.

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 at the South Asian Games 2016 in Guwahati, India.

“We have made changes in the rules and system of Kho Kho over the years so that it is as entertaining as other sports for the viewers. It is now an intense game that captivates the audiences and is easy to learn for new eyes as well,” said Mittal.

In the context of Nepal, the Nepal Kho 

Kho Association was established during 

the late 1990s. Kho Kho is also one of the traditional sports included in the National Games of Nepal.

Nepal’s target

The year 2024 was a success in the sector of sports for Nepal, and one of the major reasons was Palesha Goverdhan bagging Nepal’s first medal in the Paris Paralympics: a bronze in taekwondo. However, the country has not won a medal yet in the Olympics.

Nevertheless, once the IKKF succeeds in taking the sport to the Olympics, Nepal, the world’s second-best team in Kho Kho, will have a chance of a medal on the biggest sporting platform.

Therefore, the three tiers of government in Nepal and the concerned stakeholders of Kho Kho need to invest more in the sport. Yet, schools and communities also have a major role in making Kho Kho a popular sport in Nepal.

Way to play

For Nepalis, they played Kho Kho, but in a basic style. They called it chhui dum (touch and chase). In chhui dum, one player chases others, who can be in any number, and the one s/he touches has to be the chaser. 

Kho Kho is similar, but, as a global sport, has some rules at the international level. 

As of the Kho Kho Rule Book 2024, 

there are 12 players each in a team of two, but only nine players can take the field, which is a rectangular court with a length of 27m and a width of 16m.

A game has four turns, allowing each team to attack and defend twice; each turn expands for 7 minutes. The attacking team fields nine players while the defence sends players in batches; each batch has three players. 

The three players from a batch evade a touch from the attacking team. However, only one of the players from the attacking side can chase the defenders and should tag a team player saying ‘kho’ to change the chaser. 

Each touch from an attacking team player is worth two points; if a defender gets out of the rectangular court, it counts as a touch-out.

In Turn 2, the attacking and defending teams change their roles which is repeated in Turns 3 and 4. The team with the most points in the end wins. If there is a tie in the points, both teams take a turn, and the side to win one point in the least amount of time wins.

It is the attacking team that gets the chance to accumulate points. 

The only way the defending team can earn a point is if the players succeed in evading a touch for over three minutes. 

Thus, a team should try to remain untouched in defence and get as many points during the attack to win a Kho Kho game.

(Poudel is a journalist at The Rising Nepal)