The first season of the Ultimate Kho Kho league is all set to begin on August 14. A total of 34 matches will be played during three weeks of action and it is expected to be an exciting tournament. The final of the competition will be played on September 4.
Amit Burman, Chairman of Dabur India, in partnership with the Kho Kho Federation of India is spearheading the league’s promotion efforts (KKFI).
Venue: Shree Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex in Pune will host all the matches in the league.
A total of six teams will take part in the inaugural edition of the Ultimate Kho Kho league. The team’s squad is as follows.
Mumbai Khiladis (owned by Badshah & Punit Balan)
Category A: Kurpe Milind Rajendra, Rohan Bapuso Kore, Visag S
Category B: Shreejesh S, Vijay Gajanan Hajare, Faizankha Sherkha Pathan, Abhishek Pathrode
Category C: Gajanan Maruti Shengal, Durvesh Vikas Salunke, Rajesh Kumar, Rohit Verma, Avik Singha, Sourabh Nathaji Ahir, Sribin Kp, Gaurav Kandpal, Abishek. M. S, Bichu S. S, Rajat Malik
Category D: Rahul Bharat Sawant, Harish Mohmmad, Devendra Dagur, Gaurav, Srijin J, Ummer Ahmad Rathar
Chennai Quick Guns (owned by KLO Sports)
Category A: Mahesh Madhukar Shinde, Rajvardhan Patil, M Vignesh
Category B: Ramji Harishchandra Kashyap, Patta Narsayya, S. Santhru, Sibin. M
Category C: Amit Vasant Patil, Manoj Bharat Patil, Daasari Jeevith Rao, V Kabilan, Madan, P. Jai Prasath, Pandugu Anand Kumar, Buchannagari Raju, Vijay Vegad Jagdishbhai, Sachin Gaur
Category D: Prasad Vijay Patil, Pritam Ankush Chougule, Balvir Singh, Katla Ram Mohan, Venugopala S, Neelakantam, Suresh, Jaswant Singh, Vignesh M
Telugu Yoddhas (owned by GMR Sports)
Category A: Pratik Waikar, Rohan Shingade, Sudarshan, Arun SA
Category B: Arun Ashok Gunki, Deepak Vitthal Madhav, Avdhut Bharat Patil, Prajwal K H
Category C: Adarsh Dattatray Mohite, Prasad Vaibhav Radye, Subramani V, Anukul Sarkar, Gavara Venkatesh, Thokchom Sadananda Meitei, P Hemachandran, Dhruv
Category D: Sachin Bhargo, Dhanush K C, Aditya Das, Sinam Rokeson Singh, Pittu Bala Sambi Reddy, Bojjam Ranjith
Odisha Juggernauts (owned by the Government of Odisha)
Category A: Gowtham MK, Dilip Khandavi, Vishal, Jagannatha Murmu
Category B: Aditya Sunil Kudale, Nilesh Ananda Jadhav, Suraj Shital Lande
Category C: Dipesh Vijay More, Subhasis Santra, Mahesha.p, Avinash Shivaji Desai, Lipun Mukhi, Dinesh Naik S, Arjun Singh, Suresh Kumar, Thugana Vinod Kumar, Shiv Kumar Sen
Category D: Milind Dilip Chavarekar, Manoj Narayan Ghotekar, Darshanapu Sathish, Gurjinder Singh, Swayam Satyaprakash Parija, Mukesh Prajapat
Rajasthan Warriors (owned by Capri Global)
Category A: Abhijit Patil, Dilrajsing Sengar, Sushant Dattatray
Category B: Akshay Prashant Ganpule, Hrushikesh Vijay Murchavade, Sourabh Shivaji Adavkar, Suresh Shamrao Sawant
Category C: Majahar Kalandar Jamadar, Mohammed Taseen, Shailesh Mahadev Sankapal, Govind Yadav, Sk. Murtaja Ali, Bharat Kumar Pradhan, Nikhil .b, Yalla Satish, Jithin B, Konjengbam Dhananjoy Singh
Category D: Sushant Sanjay Kaldhone, Atla Siva Nagi Reddy, Tapan Pal, Mahesh M, Biswajit Das, Ashwani Ranjan, Mukesh Maurya, Bhuneshwar Sahu.
Gujarat Giants (owned by Adani Sportsline)
Category A: Ranjan Shetty, Pothireddy Sivareddy, Mareppa
Category B: Aditya Sunil Kudale, Nilesh Ananda Jadhav, Suraj Shital Lande
Category C: Abhinandan Mahadev Patil, Akshay Sandip Bhangare, Sagar Subhash Lengare, Monoj Sarkar, Dhiraj Vinod Bhave, S. Kavin Raj, Vinayak Sadashiv Pokarde, Bhat Hakmaji Govind, Chinmoy Nandi, Shubham Motiramji Jambhale, S Sarathkumar, Ajay Kumar Mandra
Category D: Aniket Bhagawan Pote, Nilesh Sarjerao Patil, Saleem Khan, Debendra Nath, Praful Raju Bhange.
Format: Two matches will be played every day during the league stage, which will continue till August 31.
Playoffs: The top-4 teams will qualify for the playoffs stages. The top-2 placed teams will take on each other in the first qualifier, and the winner will qualify for the final while the third and fourth-placed teams will play a do-or-die contest in the Eliminator. The loser of the first qualifier will then take on the winner of the Eliminator in the second qualifier.
