We are always wanting to hear about our students’ successes outside of the academy and one such instance this month involved Jaian S, 12 Holborn who was selected to represent Team England at the Kho Kho World Cup.  A sport popularised in India, this was the first time England have ever sent a team, so Jaian can claim to be part of Kho Kho history.  The team performed fantastically well in reaching the quarterfinals, and we were extremely proud to see Jaian voted ‘best attacker’, in the quarterfinal defeat to South Africa.  Jaian has kindly written a brief explainer of the game and his own insights into his experience.

Kho Kho - The Game

Kho Kho is played on a rectangular court which is divided by a centre line and has two fixed poles (one at either end of the centre line). The centre line will accommodate six players from the chasing team (attackers), which will be stationed at evenly dispersed boxes along the centre, facing in opposite directions alternately along the line, with the last player of the chasing team standing at either pole waiting to start the chase.

There are separate rules for the defenders and attackers.  The active chaser is only allowed to run in one direction, they cannot change direction unless they have passed the pole at either end. The chasers are also not allowed to cross the centre line, although they can chase on the other side once they have run around one of the end poles, but it is quicker to activate another member of your team who is facing the other side of the court. There is one member of the chasing team nominated as a Wazir, who can change direction when chasing (but still not allowed to cross the centre line) and wears a bright pink coloured shirt so everyone knows who the nominated Wazir is. The Wazir is normally the fastest or one of best chasers on the team. Once the first three defenders have been caught, the next three players from the defending team will step onto the court.

Points

The attacking team earns two points for every defender caught, but if one of the group of three defenders lasts more than three minutes on the court, they earn one point for their team with an extra point for every 30 seconds they last after that.

The game is split into four quarters of seven minutes. The first quarter will be one team attacking and one team defending and the second quarter will see the teams switch roles, which is then duplicated in the same order after the half time break, so the team that defended in the first quarter will defend again in the third quarter.

My Experience

To briefly describe my experience I would say that it was mind blowing and one of the best and biggest opportunities I will ever get, the whole experience was completely out of this world.

It all started off when we were leaving Heathrow for India and the airport staff scanning our bags wanted to get photos of us, it had started to get real. When we arrived in India, the greeting we got from the airport staff was very welcoming, blessing us all one by one, we were then met by the world cup mascots and this instantly brought the whole vibe of the journey we were on.

Meeting people from different cultures and countries was eye opening, seeing how they all come together as teams and spread joy and happiness. One team that stood out for me instantly was South Africa, as they showcased their singing in the hotel which honestly brought a tear to my eye (in a good way) and let me know that this experience was going to be insane.

Our first game was against Germany where we easily controlled the game and the same happened against Australia later that afternoon. My role was the Wazir (ace chaser) for the England World Cup team and this proved handy over a high intensity, passion filled match against Malaysia where we won 52 - 32, this game was televised and I received high praise from the commentators on the Star Sports Channel during this game. Our final game of the group stage was against Kenya where we were expecting a tough game as they are a very strong, fast and tall team, but we changed our tactics to make catching us difficult for them, which saw us win this game too and top our group table.

We were then drawn to play South Africa in the quarter finals. The team put in a really strong effort, but unfortunately fatigue had caught up to us and we lost the game. However, I did win the best attacker in this game, which was a great achievement for me. I am still very proud of how well we all done, especially as we only started playing as a team in September, which is when I learnt how to play.

One of the highlights of the whole trip was how we were treated as celebrities in India, constantly signing shirts, taking pictures, and being the teams vice-captain at the age of 16, I was asked to do many interviews for TV and newspaper or magazine publications, with large broadcasters like APB News and Star Sports.

We watched the India vs Nepal finals for men and women along with all the other teams and thousands of India supporters. India won both games and the atmosphere was amazing, being in a 25,000 seater indoor stadium at full capacity with all the drumming and cheering was a sight and sound to behold.

Back at the hotel we ended our trip socialising and celebrating with the other 24 competing countries, where we all signed and swapped shirts with the other teams we played, and the whole hall stopped and applauded the Nepalese Teams when they returned from their final. There was so much camaraderie between the teams and we all supported each other during the games. The whole experience is one I will never forget and I look forward to the next World Cup, which will be held in the UK in 2027, with the venue yet to be decided.

The photos below are from the game against Malaysia.