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]
Most recent season or competition: 2023-24 | |
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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/ |
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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, 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]
- 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
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
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 | - | 2022 | |||
Chennai Quick Guns | 2023-24 | ||||||
Gujarat Giants | 1 | - | 2023-24 | - | |||
Mumbai Khiladis | - | - | - | - | |||
Rajasthan Warriors |
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 | Ramji Kashyap (CQG)[23] |
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 | 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) |