The second season of Ultimate Kho Kho is set to begin this Sunday at the Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor Stadium in Cuttack on Sunday, with defending champions Odisha Juggernauts taking on the Rajasthan Warriors.
The second season will introduce an altered point system, as two points will be attributed to all attacking moves to the teams. In the inaugural season, a bonus point had been awarded to teams in case there was a sky dive, pole dive or a self-out.
The season will begin on December 24 and continue till the final on January 13, with six teams competing for the title.
Apart from Odisha Juggernauts (owned by the Government of Odisha) and Rajasthan Warriors (owned by Capri Global Group), the other teams in the league are Chennai Quick Guns (owned by KLO Sports), Gujarat Giants (owned by Adani Sportsline), Mumbai Khiladis (owned by Punit Balan Group) and last edition runners-up Telugu Yoddhas (owned by GMR Sports).
A total of 145 athletes, including 33 promising youths aged between 16 and 18 shall engage in the 21-day contest.
The league phase of the competition shall witness 30 matches unfolding over an 18-day period, wherein each team faces the other twice. The top four teams emerging from this preliminary stage shall progress to the semi-finals, and the eventual champions shall be determined on January 13.
Matches will be broadcast live on the Sony Sports Network channels and streamed live on the Sony Liv App
Full squads:
Odisha Juggernauts: Dilip Khandvi, Dipesh More, Gowtham MK, Vishal, Omkar Sonawane, Rohan Shingade, Akshay Masal, Mahesha P, Manoj Patil, Avinash Desai, Manoj Kumar, Visag S, Debendra Nath, Nikhil Kumar, Vishal Oram, Sanjay Kumar V, Deepak Kumar Sahoo, Nikhil B, MD Mirajul, Sushant Kaldhone, Sobhag V Sriganda, Niranjan Samal, Savir Ahmad, Suresh Kumar and Siddheswar Tudu.
Telugu Yoddhas: Arun Gunki, Avdhut Patil, Pratik Waikar, Adhithya Ganpule, Rahul Mandal, Nikhil Waghe, Milind Chavrekar, Akash Togare, Kiran Vasave, Dhruv, Prasad Radye, Rudra Thopate, Prem Randive, Vaibhav Nippane, Sourabh Adavkar, Vijaybhai Vegad, Anukul Sarkar, M Phani Kumar, Mahamad Ujer Harun Momin, Matlum, Lipun Mukhi, Arjun Bishukarma, Prasad Patil, Bojjam Ranjith and Rajat Malik.
Chennai Quick Guns: Amit Patil, Madan, Ramji Kashyap, Laxman Gawas, Adarsh Mohite, Sachin Bhargo, Zora Suraj, Suraj Lande, Aditya Kudale, Durvesh Salunke, Chandu Chavre, Akash Kadam, Narendra Katkate, Mustafa Bagwan, Arjun Singh, Vijay Shinde, Ashish Patel, M Mugilan, Akash Balyan, Sumon Barman, Pavan Kumar and Giri S.
Gujarat Giants: Abhinandan Patil, Akshay Bhangare, Suyash Gargate, Nilesh Jadhav, P Narasayya, Faizankha Pathan, Rajvardhan Patil, V Subramani, Deepak Madhav, Shubham Thorat, Gavara Venkatesh, Sanket Kadam, Kondhalkar Rupesh, Bharat Kumar, Pabani Sabar, Vinayak Pokarde, Ram Mohan, V Kabilan, Arnav Patankar, Alfaj H Nadaf, Vasave Ravi, Abhijit Patil, Saleem Khan, Vijesh Kumar and Harish Mohmmad.
Mumbai Khiladis: Gajanan Shengal, Sreejesh S, Mahesh Shinde, Aniket Pote, Subhasis Santra, Hrushikesh Murchavade, Rokeson Singh, P Siva Reddy, Govind Yadav, Avik Singha, Milind Kurpe, Sunil Patra, Sudheer Kumar, MD Aiman Pasha, Sagar Potdar, Rohan Kore, Komal, Pawar Sachin, Dhiraj Bhave, Debasis, Shiva, Ajay Kashyap, Pritam Chougule, Sibin M, Abhishek Pathrode and Parmar Rahul.
Rajasthan Warriors: Akshay Ganpule, Dilrajsing Sengar, Majahar Jamadar, Vijay Hajare, Jaggannath Das, Rushab Wagh, Nilesh Patil, Prajwal K H, Brahmane Vivek, Ranjan Shetty, Rejeti Surinaidu, Sourabh Gadge, Nandan D, Ganesh Borkar, Bika Chetan, Buchannagari Raju, Dhanraj P, Jagannath Murmu, Aditya Shelke, Mukesh Prajapat, Vaibhav More and Aditya KN.