Kho kho is not, by any stretch of imagination, among the world’s most popular sports. Even in India, where the game is said to have originated several centuries ago, it has not yet caught the imagination. Not many would have noticed India winning the men’s and women’s titles at the inaugural Kho Kho World Cup in New Delhi on Sunday. Pratik Waikar’s men and Priyanka Ingle’s women flourished but their collective achievements should not be cause to gloss over the fact that kho kho is not a global sport yet. Indeed, the conduct of the World Cup and India winning both the titles could offer a boost to this particular game with a rural heart. Since India is not really a major power in international sport at large, any world title is a welcome addition to the not-so-overflowing cupboard. There are, of course, a few sports in which India is a superpower, such as cricket and chess. Indian cricket may be going through its lowest phase in recent times — notwithstanding the triumph in the T20 World Cup last year — but in the mind game on 64 squares, India’s Grandmasters have been authoring one success story after another, the latest being D. Gukesh winning the World chess championship and Koneru Humpy regaining the women’s World rapid championship.
India’s brilliant minds, however, have not received the acclaim or support they deserve, especially after their historic double gold at the Chess Olympiad back in September, from the government or corporate houses. The government could do a lot to raise the profile of games such as kho kho, chess and Olympic disciplines. The disappointment at the Paris Olympics last year, where India failed to win even a single gold and finished 71st, below Pakistan and Kyrgyzstan, was another stark reminder of the state of Indian sport. India won six medals but its performance was below expectations. India’s various sports federations need to review their own functioning. And they could, in fact, learn lessons from how the Board of Control for Cricket in India, for all the criticism directed against it, is running its sport, improving infrastructure and sharing the growth in revenue with players. India may largely be a single-sport country, unlike the United States or Australia, but a game such as kabaddi, with its Pro Kabaddi League, has shown that there is scope for Indian sport on television beyond cricket. The governments, at the Centre and the States, could also do better by developing infrastructure and nurturing varied sport such as kho kho. It is also time to find out if Khelo India is justifying the huge budgetary spend.
Published – January 21, 2025 12:10 am IST
