Kho-Kho the age old thrilling game of chase has its roots in Indian mythology. However, in 1914, Deccan Gymkhana, Pune (a local sports club) changed the entire format to the present era. Incidentally, this year marks the centenary of contemporary Kho-Kho. Later on, in 1935, Akhil Maharashtra Shareerik Shikshan Mandal designed and implemented more specific and precise rules and regulations for the game. However, despite these rules, Kho-Kho was being played with slight variances, in the cities of Pune, Mumbai, Kolhapur, Nagpur, Satara, Nashik, Baroda and a few others. In order to introduce uniformity in the game, in 1943, Brihan Maharashtra Shareerik Shikshan Mandal, Delhi , brought all the Kho-Kho playing cities and authorities across the country, together, under a common set of rules.
Kho-Kho was first demonstrated overseas in 1936, at the Berlin Olympics. The special demonstration was done before the then Chancellor of Germany His Excellency Adolf Hitler, by Hanuman Wyayam Prasarak Mandal a renowned sports institute from Amravati, Maharashtra.
The game of Kho Kho was regularly being played all over India, especially in Maharashtra, West Bengal, Karnataka , Madhya Pradesh, Kerala, Gujrat, Andhra and Telangana. However, it was restricted to the states themselves as there was no apex organizing body at the national level, to look after the promotion of the game pan India. Later, in the year 1954, with the relentless efforts of the late Kashinath alias Bhai Nerurkar, (Mumbai), The Kho-Kho Federation of India was established at the Barabatti Stadium Odisha. Mr. Bhai Nerurkar became the first ever Secretary General of the Kho-Kho Federation. The till then restricted boundaries of Kho-Kho soon vanished and the Federation helped the game take a quantum jump. Kho-Kho was introduced at the University level and the first Inter – University tournament was held in 1955. The first ever National Championship was played in the year 1960 at Vijaywada (Andhra Pradesh). The result was obvious. With all these efforts and the very intrinsic thrill and physical attributes and skill levels involved in the game, it was no surprise that the Central government, the States and the Union Territories, the School Games Federation and the University Grants Commission accepted Kho-Kho as a preferred game and included it in their list of approved games.
The Central Government of India included Kho-Kho as a regular course at the National Institute of Sports, Patiala (NIS). However, such a course was already started by the Maharashtra State Kho-Kho Association, which later formed the syllabus of the course at NIS.
The Indian Olympic Association granted affiliation to the Kho-Kho Federation of India and then the State Olympic bodies accepted the Kho-Kho State Associations as their members. This helped increase the popularity of the game across the country. Besides, the State Government of Maharashtra with various local governing bodies and the State Governments of Karnataka and West Bengal initiated the organization of tournaments on the State and National levels, for various age groups. Today, the Kho-Kho fever has reached a high pitch. Eminent personalities such as late Y. B. Chavan, late Vitthalrao Gadgil, Late. Ashok Ghosh led the Kho-Kho Federation activities gracefully. Later, Hon’ble Shri Sharad Pawar took over the reins of the Maharashtra State Kho-Kho Association and the Kho-Kho Federation and under his dynamic leadership, reached pan India and all these States participated in the National tournaments. Under his leadership, the Maharashtra State Kho- Kho Association took energetic steps to propagate the game abroad.
Subsequently, Kho-Kho entered the International arena in 1987 at the time of the 3rd SAF games at Kolkata, with the immense support of Hon'ble Shri. Randhir Singh, the then Secretary General of IOA and SAF, when the Asian Kho-Kho Federation came into being. Mr. Sharad Shah (Nepal), was the first President while Mr. Mukund Ambardekar was the first Secretary General. The Asian Kho-Kho Federation immediately swung into action and Kho-Kho was included for the first time as the officially demonstration game at the 3rd South Asian Federation Games held in Kolkata in 1987 itself. These were the fruits borne to the relentless efforts of the Indian sports doyen Hon’ble Shri Sharad Pawar and other dedicated personalities viz: Mr. Mukund Ambardekar (Mumbai), Mr. Mansahie (Punjab) and Mr. Dilip Roy (West Bengal).
The game was gaining a strong foothold every day. On the occasion of the golden year celebrations of King Virendra of Nepal, the Asian Kho- Kho Federation requested the Indian Federation to organize a tour to Nepal, to demonstrate this Indian game of skill, to the Nepalese. A renowned sports club from Pune, dedicated to the promotion and proliferation of Kho-Kho, Nav Maharashtra Sangh, Pune, was given the responsibility of Mission Nepal. Nav Maharshtra Sangh played matches with the team of Nepal and also arranged demo matches within themselves to create an atmosphere conducive to the game of Kho-Kho abroad. This was the first time ever that an Indian team played against a foreign team on foreign soil. The Nepal teams also visited India thereafter, to participate in the North Zone Tournaments held at Lucknow. This resulted into the organization of the first Asian Kho-Kho Championship which was held in Kolkata in 1996. India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Sri Lanka competed for the top slot. Needless to say India emerged supreme. The second Asian Kho-Kho Championships, held at Dhaka (Bangladesh) in the year 2000, saw the addition of Thailand to the participating countries. Indians of course bagged the title. A special mention of the Japanese delegation that attended this event shall not be out of place here.
The immense efforts and dedication of so many illustrious personalities, institutions / clubs, organizers and the innumerable players who dedicated their lives and careers for the game resulted in being enrolled into the list of SAF games this year.
A unique feature of the enrollment is that, both the men and women events have been simultaneously enrolled for the first time in the history of international games.
The game of grew from strength to strength and in 1993, turned commercial. The expenditure in Organizing of All India Tournaments firstly ran into lakhs and now has crossed to Crores. Nav Maharshtra Sangh, Pune during its All India Tournaments in 1989, pioneered to the participating teams and players. This trend is now being followed in all the subsequent tournaments across India. In 1985, the Government formed a policy wherein all the finals of the National tournaments were to be televised live at the National level. Accordingly, the 1985 Nationals were televised. However, later on with the formation of Prasar Bharti, this televising was not feasible. Inspite of this limitation, Nav Maharashtra Sangh organized All India tournaments were televised live during the years 1993, 1997 and 2001. This speaks volumes of the stature and the popularity of the game and the organizers.
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