Kho-Kho Rising

Manthan — a Kho-Kho players’ association, was formed by 14 national level Kho-Kho players a year ago.It aims to encourage and inculcate an interest in the game among enthusiasts like themselves. "We were very disappointed with the joint district tournament at Vile-Parle last year.

The best teams of Mumbai district, Samarth Zayam Mandir and Om Samarth Zayam Mandir were not allowed to play because of dirty politics at the state-level. This instigated us to work towards a better future of Kho-Kho," alleges Sanjeev Thakur Desai, a former state-level Kho-Kho player and Manthan member.

Manthan was formed to incorporate Kho-Kho as a common sport and preserve its originality in the commercial world of soccer and cricket."The Kho-Kho Federation of India is connected to 37 states and regions and conducts games at a national level,  and Asia level too. Unfortunately, they haven't been able to hold tournaments and camps to encourage children in every state. Mumbai has been a Kho-Kho champion for 17 years and we do not want Kho-Kho to perish away as a national-level game," adds Desai.

Manthan recently held a Kho-Kho training camp for 147 kids at Vijay Club, Shivaji Park

Manthan has conducted quite a few activities in Mumbai in order to promote Kho- Kho and boost the standards of playing.

Recently, it held a Kho-Kho training camp for 147 kids, free of charge, at Vijay Club, Shivaji Park. They hired national-level players from the Bombay Police National Kho Kho team to train children from the April 14 to 20.
The entire event was financed and organised by the dedicated members of Manthan and they did it without the help of sponsors.

Manthan also organised a school-level tournament at the Mahatma Gandhi school ground in Bandra this year and distributed prizes worth Rs 1,20,000. There were around 32 schools that participated in this tournament from all over Mumbai and Thane district.

“With so much importance being given to cricket, football and tennis, Kho-Kho rarely stands a chance. National level Kho-Kho players were not allotted any jobs by the government because there were no Kho-Kho

tournaments. It's a cycle, if we promote the game at a state-level and have more people playing, then the government will assure jobs in the sports quota and hold tournaments as well," says Vaishali Londhe, Chatrapati Shivaji Sports Award winner.

Currently, Manthan operates from Londhe's residence at Mahim and they fund all the events by themselves. Manthan is brave attempt by a few sportsmen who are trying to revive the diminishing popularity of traditional Indian games.
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• Kho-Kho ranks as one of the most popular traditional sports in India.
• The first ever rules on Kho-Kho were published from Gymkhana Baroda, in 1924.
• In 1959-60, the first national Kho-Kho championship was organised in Vijayawada (Andhra Pradesh).