Ultimate Kho Kho | Organisers tweak rules to make the sport more “modern” and “exciting”

The Kho Kho Federation of India (KKFI) had launched a new franchise-based league earlier this year with an aim of making the indigenous sport popular in the country and abroad. Now, the organisers have announced a few changes in rules to make it more exciting. The most important out of them is the change in the timing. Earlier, an innings used to be of nine minutes which has now been reduced to seven for the tournament.

Another interesting addition to the rules of the sport is ‘Wazir’ who can be called as Trump Card. He will have the freedom of running both left and right in the wing but will not have the permission to cross the line. A team can use Wazir as a Trump Card to collect more points.

“We brought in the concept of Wazir to make it more modern, more exciting, and more youth-friendly. We are very confident that people will enjoy this new approach and style that this traditional sport will bring,” KKFI president Sudhanshu Mittal was quoted as saying by Scroll.

There are some changes in the points table as well. Now a player can collect one additional point for skydives and pole dives during the league. The teams will be allowed two chances to review the decision of the officials in every innings. However, with the review being turned out, the opposition will be awarded a point. There has been an introduction of instant replacement of the defenders while follow-on and sudden death laws will continue as per the basic rules of Kho Kho.

The league will have eight teams from across India competing for the title. In the 15-member squads, there will be two international players and two under 19 players as well.