Kho Kho player Abhinandan Patil on Tuesday said that more players should take up Indian traditional sports.
Abhinandan is a Kho Kho player, who is a part of Ultimate Kho Kho League season one, the country's first-ever franchise-based league for the sport. He plays for the team Gujarat Giants.
"More players should take up traditional Indian sports and they must receive more players. It has happened with Kabbadi, it is happening with Kho Kho right now. We feel that Kho Kho must go only up from here. Kho Kho is in Asian Games now and more people are showing interest in it," said Abhinandan in an exclusive interview with ANI.
He agrees that more Indian traditional sports should get leagues of their own, even something like an Olympics/Commonwealth Games sporting event dedicated solely to traditional Indian sports.
Abhinandan expressed happiness with his team's performance in Ultimate Kho Kho.
"Our performance has been really good. We won our first three matches and boys played really well. However, in the fourth match, some of our players got injured and our attack was disturbed. We lost that match. We still fought in it and captured a point. That is why we are at the top," he said.
Gujarat Giants is at the top of the table in Ultimate Kho Kho with ten points and three wins in four games.
He is also very happy with his own individual performances and credits the support from his team for his success.
Abhinandan opines that Ultimate Kho Kho can be a gamechanger with its new rules and formats.
"Earlier, Kho Kho had nine players (on field). This Ultimate Kho Kho league is different. (It has seven players on the field). Earlier, there used to be one point on dive and pole dive. Here, it is three points for each. This has led to increase in the points tally. People are interested in playing Ultimate Kho Kho. It will bring youngsters to the sport and it has got interesting. The main factor is 'Wazir', a role that I am playing.
Wazir is a player who as an active chaser can run in any direction. Abhinandan is the second-best Wazir in the tournament so far with 35 points.
Abhinandan recalled his school days when he fell in love with the sport. He used to be a multi-talented sportsperson back then, who also practiced swimming and athletics.
"When I was in school, I loved to see my seniors playing Kho Kho. They used to dive and pole dive. I used to swim as well but did not pursue it further. But when I played Kho Kho, it seemed really interesting to me. I was also into athletics. I was really quick. That is why I chose Kho Kho," he said.
The player said that he has gotten a lot of support from his family and his coaches and credits his appearances at international events like the South Asian Games 2019, in which he won gold to his coaches.
Abhinandan said that those who are willing to learn Kho Kho should study it and practice it properly and it needs a lot of energy and endurance to play it.
( With inputs from ANI )
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