Three players and five officials from Odisha will be seen in action at the inaugural Kho Kho World Cup, which is all set to be held at the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium in New Delhi from 13 to 19 January 2025. The three players are: Subhashree Sing (Balasore), Magai Majhi (Rayagada) and Pabani Sabar (Gajapati).

All three players are students of Kalinga Institute of Social Sciences (KISS) and train at Odisha AM/NS Kho Kho High-Performance Centre (HPC) in Bhubaneswar, under the guidance of coach and mentor Sanjeev Sharma.

Among the five officials, Odisha Kho Kho Association secretary Pradyumna Mishra has been nominated as a member of the Referee Board, while Choudhury Partha Sarathi Mohapatra, Akash Rana, Krishna Kumari Ray and Shraddhamayee Rout have been chosen as International Technical Officials.

As many as 20 mens and 19 womens teams from 24 countries will vie for the trophies. After league matches, top two teams from each group will qualify for quarterfinals. Indian mens team will compete in Group-A against Nepal, Peru, Brazil and Bhutan.

Indian womens team has been placed in Group-A along with Iran, Malaysia and South Korea. Prateek Waikar and Priyanka Ingle will lead the Indian men and women teams respectively. Star Sports will broadcast the matches on Star Sports 1HD and Start Sports First, while Doordarshan will ensure nationwide regional coverage.

The inclusion of three Odisha players in the Indian teams is sure to further boost the popularity of kho-kho in the state and inspire more youngsters to befriend the sport. Odisha has already established itself as a formidable force in the domestic kho-kho map of the country, winning medals in National championships regularly.

Odisha Government has extended huge support to kho-kho by setting up of the HPC. Earlier this month the State government also announced to sponsor the National kho-kho teams for the next three years from January 2025 till December 2027.

INDIAN MEN TEAM: Pratik Waikar (Captain), Prabani Sabar, Mehul, Sachin Bhargo, Suyash Gargate, Ramji Kashyap, Siva Pothireddy, Aditya Ganpule, Gowtham MK, Nikhil Binu Kumar, Akash Kumar, Subramani V, Suman Barman, Aniket Pote, Sinam Rokeson Singh. Chief Coach: Ashwani Kumar Sharma.

INDIAN WOMEN TEAM: Priyanka Ingle (Captain), Ashwini Shinde, Reshma Rathore, Bhilar Devjibhai, Nirmala Bhati, Neeta Devi, Chaithra R, Subhashree Sing, Magai Majhi, Anshu Kumari, Vaishnavi Bajrang, Nasreen Shaikh, Meenu, Monika, Nazia Bibi. Chief Coach: Sumit Bhatia.
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PHOTO: Odisha tio (L-R) Magai Majhi, Pabani Sabara and Subhashree Sing after getting selected in the Indian teams for the 1st Kho-Kho World Cup 2025.