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Ultimate Kho Kho

Ultimate Kho Kho

Most 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

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

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]

UKK season results[edit]

Teams' performances[edit]

League stage positions[edit]

Awards[edit]

See also[edit]

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

References[edit]