Delhi, Jan 22
\nUnion Minister of Youth Affairs & Sports and Labour & Employment, Dr. Mansukh Mandaviya felicitated the World Cup-winning Kho Kho teams in New Delhi today. The Indian men and women teams scripted history after clinching the inaugural Kho Kho World Cup titles at the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium on January 19. Both teams defeated Nepal in their respective finals.<\/p>\n
Present today was the full squad of the men\u2019s and women\u2019s Kho Kho teams as well as the coaches, Sudhanshu Mittal, President of the Kho Kho Federation of India (KKFI) and other officials from the Ministry and the Sports Authority of India.<\/p>\n
Talking about the resurgence of traditional games in the nation, Dr. Mandaviya said, \u201cTraditional games showcase the resilience, community spirit and most importantly, upholds our traditional sporting value. The world has so much to learn from the richness of these traditional games.”<\/p>\n
\u201cHon\u2019ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has mentioned across various national platforms that we have to give the best exposure to the traditional sports. Now our teams are not only getting the best exposure but also coming out with flying colours. I congratulate the spirit of our players and the traditional skills of both teams,\u201d Union Minister mentioned.<\/p>\n
With the highlight being the 2036 Olympics which India has put forth a bid to host, the Union Minister added that the winning flow from all the stakeholders should continue, with the latest target being the Asian Games 2026. \u201cWe did a splendid job of organising the Kho Kho World Cup and we need to make an effort that these players get a chance to play at the Asian Games. The Government\u2019s endeavour is also to take Kho Kho to Olympics in 2036. For this, the players and coaches need to keep performing well, the federation has to keep managing well and the Sports Ministry will carry on supporting and helping level up the players\u2019 performances.\u201d<\/p>\n
Out of the 23 countries that took part in the Kho Kho World Cup 2025 at the national capital, India came on top. The credit has largely been given to the month-long camp at the Sports Authority of India JLN Stadium. Sumit Bhatia, chief coach, India Women\u2019s Kho Kho team, explained, \u201cOn December 10, we started the camp at the SAI JLN Stadium with 60 players. Out of them, we found the best 15 players each for the men\u2019s and the women\u2019s team. The teams were composed of players from Kashmir to Kanyakumari and the camp helped them forge the team chemistry.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe players went through sports science testing for the first-time ever and were provided the best diet and lodging facilities from the Sports Authority of India. This has played instrumental in our success today. With the next edition of the World Cup coming up in England four years later, we will make it a point to unfurl India\u2019s flag again on top of the podium,\u201d Sumit Bhatia added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Delhi, Jan 22 Union Minister of Youth Affairs & Sports and Labour & Employment, Dr….<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":18203,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18202","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-national","category-sports"],"yoast_head":"\n