Ultimate Kho Kho

Indian franchise-based Kho-Kho league

Ultimate Kho KhoMost recent season or competition:
2023-24

Sport| Kho Kho
Founded| 2022
First season| 2022
CEO| Tenzing Niyogi
No. of teams| 6
Country| India
Most recent
champion(s)| Gujarat Giants (1st title)
(2023-24)
Most titles| Odisha Juggernauts (1 title)
Official website| https://www.ultimatekhokho.com/
2023-24 Ultimate Kho Kho
Seasons

* 2022
* 2023-24

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[edit]

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, 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[edit]

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]
* A 30-second break is taken between the dismissal of one batch and the entry of the next batch.[18][a]
* 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.[19][20]
* 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.[18]

### Terminology[edit]

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.[18]

## Teams[edit]

Mumbai Khiladis

Rajasthan Warriors

Telugu Yoddhas

Gujarat Giants

Odisha Juggernauts

Chennai Quick Guns

class=notpageimage|

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[edit]

### Titles won by each team[edit]

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  | \-  | 2022
Chennai Quick Guns  | 2023-24
Gujarat Giants  | 1 | \-  | 2023-24 | \-
Mumbai Khiladis  | \-  | \-  | \-  | \-
Rajasthan Warriors

### UKK season results[edit]

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 | Ramji Kashyap (CQG)[23]

## Teams' performances[edit]

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[edit]

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[edit]

Season  | Player of the Tournament  | Rising Star of the Tournament[b] | 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)
2023-24[23] | Shubham Thorat (Gujarat Giants)  | Pratik Waikar (Telugu Yoddhas)  | Aditya Ganpule (Telugu Yoddhas)

## See also[edit]

* Sport in India
* Pro Kabaddi League
* World Chase Tag

## References[edit]

1. ^ Laghate, Gaurav. "Ultimate Kho Kho franchises pick up 143 players from draft". The Economic Times. Retrieved 15 July 2022.
2. ^ a b c 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. ^ "Ultimate Kho Kho becomes first Indian sports league to secure PE investment". Business Standard.
11. ^ a b c "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.
12. ^ a b c Understanding The Game Play - KHO-KHO, retrieved 15 July 2022
13. ^ a b c "Ultimate Kho Kho Rules | Update New rules of Kho Kho". KHO KHO. Retrieved 16 July 2022.
14. ^ a b c 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. ^ a b c "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.
16. ^ a b c 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. ^ 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.
18. ^ a b c "rules-season1.pdf". Google Docs. Retrieved 14 August 2022.
19. ^ "Ultimate Kho Kho revolutionises traditional sport: Expanding, innovating and inspiring". Sakshi Post. 24 December 2023. Retrieved 24 December 2023.
20. ^ "Ultimate Kho Kho Season 2: All your FAQs answered". Ultimate Kho Kho. 2023. Retrieved 24 December 2023.
21. ^ "Ultimate Kho Kho League: 143 Players Picked In Season One Draft | Other Sports News". NDTVSports.com. Retrieved 15 July 2022.
22. ^ a b "A Glance at the Season Award Winners of Ultimate Kho Kho Season 1". Ultimate Kho Kho. Retrieved 7 October 2022.
23. ^ a b "Meet the Kings of Ultimate Kho Kho Season 2". Ultimate Kho Kho. 19 January 2024. Retrieved 21 January 2024.

1. ^ 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.
2. ^ Known in Season 1 as the "Young Player of the Tournament"

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Ultimate Kho Kho

Seasons|

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Finals|

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