World class spectacle, Olympic ambitions – Kho Kho has drawn up big plans

Launched on April 2, 2019, Ultimate Kho Kho is a collaboration between Kho Kho Federation of India (KKFI) and Dabur India Vice Chairman Amit Burman, to support the development of Kho Kho through a professional structured league. Along with the Kho Kho Federation of India, Ultimate Kho Kho organised a first-of-its-kind ‘High-Performance Assessment and Scientific Analysis’ evaluation and training camp from January 19 to February 16, 2021, for the Kho Kho players.

This camp focused on creating excellence and high performance among players for the first time and it also initiated the National Camp after a long layoff of almost 10 months from active sports. The initiative was also supported by sport stars like Abhinav Bindra, Sushil Kumar and Suresh Raina.

Tenzing Niyogi, CEO, Ultimate Kho Kho, speaks to Adgully about the journey of the organisation, details of the training camp, the ‘X-factor’ that Ultimate Kho Kho holds over other sporting organisations, besides harbouring strong ambitions to take this indigenous India sport on a global scale.

Tell us about the journey of Ultimate Kho Kho. What is your vision for the company?

From conceptualising Ultimate Kho Kho in 2017 to now preparing for a 2021 launch has been an organic evolution under the umbrella of innovation and strategy. Right from process designing for players identification, federation and investor relations, new format curation, infusion of sports technology under AI and ML, coupled with TV production pitches, continued conversations with commercial stakeholders have enriched the league’s journey to its present-day pre-launch avatar – an edge-of-the-seat format, where every minute is an event.

With a view to not only make this indigenous sport an aspirational sport, but also pave the way for Kho Kho athletes for their future at international multi-sports events in Asian Games, Commonwealth Games and eventually the Olympics. The revamped format of Ultimate Kho Kho will be a world class spectacle for all the fans bringing communities together.

Could you shed some light on "High-Performance Assessment and Scientific Analysis" Evaluation and Training Camp. Since fitness in sports has grown in importance tremendously, what are the parameters that you look at in a NextGen athletes?

For the very first time, the Kho Kho Federation of India (KKFI) and Ultimate Kho Kho (UKK) have introduced a revolutionary High-Performance Assessment and Scientific Analysis & Evaluation Programme, called ‘RISE in Sports Excellence’.

During a rigorous camp of almost a month, 138 players (including 18 women players) are monitored by vastly experienced experts from Manav Rachna Sports Science Centre in Faridabad and SGT University in Gurugram to develop a pool of athletes who are assessed with biomechanics, biokinetics, nutrition, diet, rehabilitation and injury management and based on the scientifically monitored findings the players will be transformed to become champions of the game. Ultimate Kho Kho with its latent demand holds the promise of a blockbuster league. With the influx of sports science changing the dynamics of training in team sports, this camp will help develop the athletes to transform and become champions of the game. During the camp, we are also planning to test a new sports technology for tag sports in order to bring ‘edge of the seat’ action for audiences.

Tell us about some of the programmes in the training camp that help athletes grow. Who are the megastars who will be promoting this camp?

For a sport like Kho Kho, which is fast and needs a lot of agility, stamina and endurance, it is the demand of the sport that players need to be injury-free, they need to have the right posture for taking off as well as for diving and the core needs to be strong. While this is the first time that players on such a scale have been brought together to be scientifically analysed and course corrections are suggested. The expertise of the country’s top sports-tech institutes – Manav Rachna Sports Science Centre and SGT University – have been roped in to roll out this mammoth initiative. A 30-day camp will see players being monitored and analysed. The findings and parameters ranging from sports physiotherapy, rehabilitation, injury management, biomechanics, biokinetics, sports performance analysis, nutritional guidance and posture corrections will be put into action.

The training will also mark the resumption of the sport after almost a 10-month gap as the world is coming out of the grips of the pandemic. Cricketers Mohammad Shami and Suresh Raina along with two-time Olympic medalist Sushil Kumar have already visited the camp and interacted with the players. Union Minister of Sports and Youth Affairs Kiren Rijiju had inaugurated the camp and is excited with the development of the game in India and the potentials that Ultimate Kho Kho brings with it.

What were the challenges that you faced during the pandemic and what will be your strategy going forward?

The long inactivity due to the forced quarantine has taken a long time to be accepted by all the economic sectors. The process has not been different in sports, the pandemic has been demanding in multiple ways for all of us collectively. We were to launch the League in 2020, but with the global crisis we had to alter our plans. However, we have been effective to achieve certain ‘return on objectives’ in terms of analysing players’ fitness under the high-performance training camp, multiple commercial arrangements and on-boarding new stakeholders.

The growth trajectory of broadcasting (sales of media rights), commercial (sponsorship and advertising partnerships) and match day revenue (ticketing and hospitality) are ensured by deeper engagement with fans & spectators. There is optimism in some quarters that the lockdown measures will be a short-term blip to business. The expectation is that the booming business of sports will return later this year – players will once again earn the last rupee of their money-spinning contracts, content owners will draw the last straw of revenue and fans will arrive in controlled crowds at the gate and in front of the TV to bolster sports viewing.

What’s your marketing strategy for the camp? Any specific markets or cities that you are looking at? How will you attract more athletes to join in?

The RISE High-Performance Training, Scientific Analysis Camp was curated to evaluate a Pre and Post scenario for players performance. The strategy was to construct a league simulation for our stakeholders, team owners, broadcaster, and media agencies to preview the Ultimate Kho Kho experience, which we recently conducted at the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium. The outcome has been extremely positive. The next steps are to test 200 more athletes in the forthcoming KKFI Nationals in end March to bolster the Pre-draft players pool.

How does Ultimate Kho Kho plan to differentiate itself from other sporting organisations?

One of the big things with Kho Kho is that it is an indigenous game. However, though it is widespread across India and has a nostalgic value, it is yet to be exposed as a television product. While this is a sport that will witness an exciting and fast-paced game with high-octane action, it will also have all the promises to be a spectacle on TV, especially with the technology and AI that we plan to introduce in a tag sport for the first time in the world.