New Delhi.
41 international teams including USA, England, Germany, Australia, New Zealand, Netherlands and Poland will participate in the first Kho-Kho World Cup to be held in India in January 2025. Sudhanshu Mittal, President of Kho-Kho Federation of India and Kho-Kho World Cup Organizing Committee, said on Sunday that six teams from around the world will participate in this international tournament to be held at Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium and Noida Indoor Stadium from 13 to 19 January 2025. 24 countries from continents Europe, Africa, Oceania, Asia, South America and North America have confirmed their participation.
The United States will send a men’s team to this World Cup, while Germany, Netherlands, Poland and England will participate in both men’s and women’s categories. New Zealand and Australia will be the teams from Oceania. Australia will participate in both men’s and women’s categories while New Zealand will participate in the women’s category only.
From the South American continent there will be teams from Argentina, Peru and Brazil. Argentina and Brazil will be represented by men’s teams while Peru will send both men’s and women’s teams. Ghana, Kenya, South Africa and Uganda from the African continent will showcase their talent in this championship. Kenya, South Africa will participate in both men’s and women’s categories while Ghana will be represented by the men’s team and Uganda will be represented by only the women’s team.
Hosts India, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Malaysia, Nepal, Pakistan, Iran, Bhutan, Sri Lanka and South Korea will participate from the Asian continent. Indonesia will send only a women’s team while all other countries will participate in both men’s and women’s categories. Sudhanshu Mittal said that all the countries have announced the arrival schedule of their teams in which the Sri Lankan team will reach first on January 10 while all the other teams will reach Indira Gandhi International Airport on January 11. He informed that 615 players and 125 support staff will participate in this international tournament.
He told that each team will include 15 players, one coach, one manager and other international technical officials. He informed that host India will provide free accommodation, transport and catering facilities to all the teams during the period of the World Cup. For the main matches of the World Cup, the teams will be divided into 4 groups and the matches of each group will be played in league and knock out format. The top 2 teams of each group will get entry into the knock out stage.
