Kho-Kho

Kho-Kho grew from 'run and chase' games in the akharas of Maharashtra. Rules were framed in 1914; the Kho-Kho Federation of India dates from 1956; Hanuman Vyayam Prasarak Mandal, Amravati, gave it its modern form. It entered the National Games in 1985; the first Asian Championship was in Calcutta in 1996.

Field 27 m x 16 m (23 m x 14 m for sub-juniors) with 1.5 m free zones and posts 1.20-1.25 m high at each end; a 24 m central lane with eight cross-lane squares of 35 cm x 30 cm.

Teams of 12, nine play. Eight chasers sit in the squares facing alternate ways; the active chaser passes the chase by touching a sitter and calling 'kho'; chasers may change direction only in the free zones. A runner touched by the active chaser, or stepping out, is out.

Two innings; in each, a team chases for 9 minutes and runs for 9; runners enter three at a time; the whole match takes 48 minutes with breaks. Officials: two umpires, a referee, a time keeper and a scorer.

Skills: simple, beginner's and late kho; left- and right-hand chase; bullet and parallel sitting; getting up (monkey, standing, combined); chains and rings; dodging; straight and side dives.