Indian men and women clinched the titles in the 4th Asian Kho Kho Championships that concluded at Tamulpur in Baksa district, Bodoland Territorial Region (BTR) in Assam on Thursday. In the finals, Indian men defeated Nepal by 6 points and an innings while Indian women got the better of the same opponent by 33 points and an innings.
Earlier, in the semifinals, Indian men overcame Sri Lankan challenges by 45 points. On the other hand, Nepal defeated Bangladesh by 12 points with 1.5 minutes to spare. In the women’s category, India beat Bangladesh by 49 points and an innings. And in the second semifinal, Nepal didn’t face much difficulty to defeat Sri Lanka by 59 points and an innings.
Team India captain Akshay Bhangre said they are extremely excited and happy to win this championship. “Being an Indian, it feels great to win the game which was initiated in India. At the same time, it is equally exciting to witness the participating countries doing so good in the matches,” Akshay said. He also thanked the crowd at Tamulpur to support the teams throughout the tournament.
“It was a great atmosphere here. The support of the crowd is always important. It can motivate the players to give their best,” Akshay added. In both men’s and women’s categories, the third place was shared by Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.
Altogether 16 teams (both male and female) participated in this event. The participating countries were – Bangladesh, Bhutan, Indonesia, Iran, Malaysia, Nepal, Singapore, South Korea, Sri Lanka and the host India. The event was organised by the Kho Kho Federation of India (KKFI) and was hosted by the Assam Kho Kho Association (AKKA) with support from the BTR Government. The government of Assam also extended their support for the competition.
Around 500 players and officials were part of this event. The matches were held on mats and a makeshift indoor stadium with a capacity to accommodate around 7000 people was set up at the venue at Tamulpur Higher Secondary School.
Ranjana Sarania: Ranjana Sarania who represented the Indian women’s team in the tournament was felicitated during the closing ceremony. BTR Chief Pramod Boro announced Rs 10 lakh for the honour of Ranjana. The 18-year-old Ranjana hails from Tamulpur.
Assam governor Gulab Chand Kataria, Assam Assembly Speaker Biswajit Daimary, Assam ministers Pijush Hazarika, UG Brahma and Assam DGP GP Singh among others were present during the closing ceremony.
The organisers thanked Assam Tourism Department, State Level Advisory Committee and SBI for their support in conducting the event successfully.