Ultimate Kho Kho


Ultimate Kho Kho, abbreviated as UKK is an Indian franchise-based kho-kho league. Hosted by the Kho [Kho Federation of India], it was founded in 2022. The first season had a viewership of 64 million, 41 million of which came from India, making UKK the third-most viewed non-cricket sports tournament in India after the Pro Kabaddi League and the Indian Super League.

History

Several changes were made to the standard rules of kho-kho in UKK in order to make the game more exciting and presentable on television. Sony Pictures Network India signed a 5-year deal to broadcast UKK, and will invest into the league over the 5 years.
There are plans to launch a women's version of UKK in a few years' time. Future editions of UKK will expand to have eight to ten teams, with venues in multiple cities to be used. It was confirmed that for Season 3, some foreign players will participate.
Before the start of the second season, UKK became the first Indian sports league to secure private equity-based funding, receiving it from a UK-based group.

Format

UKK uses a modified set of rules referred to by the International Kho Kho Federation as the "fast format", as opposed to the standard "test format". The following modifications apply:
  • Only 7 players from the attacking team are on the field.
  • The playing field is only 22 meters long and 16 meters wide.
  • 2 points are scored per tag.
  • A 30-second break is taken between the dismissal of one batch and the entry of the next batch.
  • If a batch of defenders can avoid being completely dismissed for at least 3 minutes, they earn 1 point, and then an extra point for every 30 seconds survived afterwards.
  • One attacking player may run in any direction when acting as the active attacker.
  • The attacking team can take a powerplay in each of their attacking turns during which they have two wazirs. Each powerplay lasts until all 3 defenders of the current batch are out.
  • Each team's turn to score/defend lasts 7 minutes, with the break time between turns also shortened.
  • Tiebreaker : Each team gets one additional turn to score, and the team that scores its first point the fastest wins.
The game is split into two innings, each of which is split into two turns of seven minutes each. An interval of 3 minutes is taken after the end of the first inning, while a break of 2 minutes is taken after the end of the first and third turns respectively.

Teams

TeamCityDebutHead Coach
Chennai Quick GunsChennai2022
Gujarat GiantsAhmedabad2022
Mumbai KhiladisMumbai2022
Odisha JuggernautsBhubaneswar2022
Rajasthan WarriorsJaipur2022
Telugu YoddhasHyderabad2022