Kho kho

Kho kho is a traditional South Asian sport that dates to ancient India. It is the second-most popular traditional tag game in the Indian subcontinent after kabaddi. Kho kho is played on a rectangular court with a central lane connecting two poles which are at either end of the court. During the game, nine players from the chasing team (attacking team) are on the field, with eight of them sitting (crouched) in the central lane, while three runners from the defending team run around the court and try to avoid being touched. Each sitting player on the chasing team faces the opposite half of the field that their adjacent teammates are facing.
In the game, one player from the chasing team (the "active chaser" or "attacker") may run around the court to tag (touch) members of the defending team. Each successful tag earns one point, and tagged defenders must leave the field. However, the active chaser is restricted from crossing the central lane to access the other half of the court and cannot change direction once they begin running toward either pole. These restrictions can be bypassed if the active chaser either switches roles with a sitting teammate — by touching them on the back while saying "Kho" — who is facing the other half of the court, or by running behind either pole to switch direction or halves. Each team alternates between scoring and defending, with two turns for each role. Each turn lasts nine minutes, and the team with the highest score at the end of the game wins.
The sport is widely played across South Asia, and also has a presence in other regions with a significant South Asian diaspora, such as South Africa and England. It is played most often by school children, and is also a competitive sport. The first franchise league for the sport, Ultimate Kho Kho, was unveiled in India in August 2022.
The name comes from Marathi: खोखो (khō-khō), the word kho is an onomatopoeia of the sound invoked while playing the game.
Kho kho has been played since at least the fourth century BC. Certain aspects of kho kho's gameplay may have been mentioned in the Mahabharata. In pre-modern times, it is believed that a version of kho kho known as Rathera was played on chariots (ratha meaning "chariot" in Sanskrit). The game was also known in ancient times as "Kho Dhwani Krida", translating as "a game where the sound 'kho' is made".
The modern form of the game was standardised in 1914, with its rules and formalised structure being given by Pune's Deccan Gymkhana club. The first rule book of Kho-kho was written by Bal Gangadhar Tilak. Kho-kho was demonstrated at the 1936 Berlin Olympics alongside other traditional Indian games.
It is now a medal sport in the South Asian Games, having first been played in the 2016 edition. The sport has also been spread overseas to the United Kingdom and South Africa by the South Asian diaspora. Within South Asia, it has been accepted into major sports events such as Khelo India and the National Games of India, with its growth supported by its simplicity and affordability. In the future, Indian officials have targeted adding kho kho to the Asian Games and 2036 Olympics. Kho kho had also been due to debut as a demonstration sport at the 2020 Asian Beach Games until that event was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and has previously been demonstrated at the 1982 Asian Games.
Kho kho's rules and appearance have changed over time; it was generally played on muddy surfaces in the past, but today is often professionally played on matted surfaces. This transition has altered the game, as more energy is required to run on a matted surface, with injuries also increasing to some extent. Various other aspects of the game, such as the poles and the dimensions of the playing field, were also added over time. In the 21st century, a shortened format of the game has been invented, aiming to increase spectator appeal.
Several major kho kho developments have taken place in India. In July 2022, the player draft for Ultimate Kho Kho was completed, which is a six-team franchise-based Indian Kho Kho tournament. Its inaugural season ran from August 14 to September 4, 2022. The Kho Kho Federation of India conducts the National Championships for men, women and juniors every year. The latest (56th) edition, the 2024 National kho kho championship, concluded in Delhi on 1 April 2024 with Maharashtra winning both the men's and women's National titles.
The field is 27 by 16 metres (89 by 52 ft), with a distance of 24 metres (79 ft) between the two poles, and the central lane having a width of 30 centimetres (12 in). Each of the cross lanes (which pass through the sitting areas that the chasers sit in, and go from one side of the court to the other) has a width of 35 centimetres (14 in), with adjacent cross lanes 2.3 metres (7 ft 7 in) apart, and a separation of 2.55 metres (8 ft 4 in) between each pole and its adjacent cross lane. Each pole is 120 to 125 centimetres (47 to 49 in) high and 9 to 10 centimetres (3.5 to 3.9 in) in diameter. The poles are smooth and round, with no sharp edges. There are 1.5 m (4 ft 11 in)-long extensions of the court behind each of the poles known as "free zones", in which there are no restrictions on chasers' movements.
At the start of play, the active chaser starts off in one of the free zones, and can run into either half of the court to tag the three defenders. Once all three defenders have been tagged out or otherwise "dismissed", the next "batch" of three defenders comes onto the court.
The active chaser can switch roles with a sitting teammate by touching them on the back and shouting "kho"; this is known as the active chaser "giving a kho" to the sitting teammate. One kho must be given by the active chaser upon the dismissal of a batch before the chasing team can tag any players in the next batch. For the kho to be valid, it must be given before the active chaser has gone past the cross lane that the teammate is sitting within, with the sitting teammate not moving/rising before receiving the kho. Once a sitting chaser becomes active, they may only enter the half of the court which they were facing while they were sitting; additionally, once the newly active chaser steps to the left or right of the cross lane they were sitting in (or turns in such a way that their shoulders face towards either pole), they must continue in that direction until they have reached the free zone. Also, once the newly active chaser steps out of the central lane, they cannot step back into the central lane while tagging a defender.
Violating any of these rules results in a "foul", in which case the chasing team can no longer attempt to tag any defenders. In order to clear the foul, the active chaser must move in the opposite direction of the one they were running in (i.e. away from the defenders they were chasing) until they have either given a kho to a teammate, or reached the appropriate free zone.
The chasing team scores points each time a defender is ruled "out" (dismissed), which happens either when a chaser tags a defender without breaking any rules, when a defender steps out of the court (with no part of the body remaining grounded within), or when a defender is late to enter the court as part of a new batch after the dismissal of the previous batch.
In the case of a tie, some matches have a tiebreaker known as a "minimum chase", in which each team is allotted an additional turn to score. Each team's turn ends once they have scored one point, with the team that is faster at scoring a point during their minimum chase turn winning the match.
The International Kho Kho Federation (IKKF) administers kho kho at the global level, and hosted the inaugural 2025 Kho Kho World Cup in collaboration with the Kho Kho Federation of India. The IKKF distinguishes between two main formats of kho kho: the standard "test format" and a seven-a-side "fast format", with the latter being used for the World Cup. It aims to expand the game to over 90 countries to meet the prerequisites for Olympic inclusion.
Other international kho kho competitions, such as the Asian Kho Kho Championship, have been held with the collaboration of organisations such as the Kho Kho Federation of India and the Kho Kho Federation of England.
In one variation of kho kho, a team is no longer allowed to chase once it has tagged all the players on the other team. The team that tags all of its opponents in the shortest amount of time wins.
In this variant, the field is modified so that it is simply a 5 m (16 ft) inner circle and a 7 m (23 ft) outer circle, with the outer circle acting as the boundary of the field. Instead of sitting, eight of the nine chasers stand in positions evenly spaced around the perimeter of the inner circle, with each alternate chaser facing into or away from the inner circle; when a chaser is given a kho, they can only run in the inside or outside of the inner circle depending on which way they were facing while inactive.
Each team has seven or more players, with all players from the defensive team standing in the central lane between the sitting chasers. The captain of the chasing team aims to tag the defenders, who are allowed to jump out of the central lane temporarily to avoid being tagged, without any help from a teammate. Once a defender is dismissed, the captain can, upon reaching one of the free zones, say "khok" along with the name of any of the sitting chasers, which results in that player becoming the active chaser. Once all defenders have been dismissed, the teams switch roles.