Sports minister celebrates Indian Kho Kho team World Cup victory

Indian men's and women's teams made history

Union Minister of Youth Affairs & Sports and Labour & Employment Mansukh Mandaviya felicitated the World Cup winning Kho Kho teams in New Delhi on Wednesday. The Indian men's and women's teams created history by winning the first Kho Kho World Cup title on 19 January at the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium. Both teams defeated Nepal in their respective finals. The entire team of men's and women's Kho Kho teams along with coaches, Kho-Kho Federation of India (KKFI) President Sudhanshu Mittal and other officials of the Ministry and Sports Authority of India were also present today.

Best Performance to Traditional Sports

Talking about traditional sports in the country, Mandaviya said, "Traditional sports reflect resilience, community spirit and most importantly, these maintain our traditional sporting values. The world has a lot to learn from the richness of these traditional games. "Hon'ble Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said at various national platforms that we have to give best performance to traditional sports. Now our teams are not only performing at their best, but are also performing brilliantly. I admire the character of our players and the traditional skills of both the teams. "

India has bid to host the Olympic Games to be held in the year 2036. Speaking on the occasion, the Union Minister said that the winning streak of all stakeholders should continue, the latest target being the 2026 Asian Games. We did a great job in organising the Kho Kho World Cup and we need to try that these players get a chance to play in the Asian Games. The government's effort is also to take Kho Kho to the 2036 Olympic Games. For this, players and coaches will have to keep performing better. The federation will continue to manage well and the Sports Ministry will continue to help and support the athletes in improving their performance.

India topped the list of 23 countries that participated in the Kho Kho World Cup 2025 held in the national capital. This is largely attributed to the month-long camp at the Sports Authority of India (SAI) JLN Stadium. "On December 10, we started a camp at the SAI JLN Stadium with 60 players. Out of them, we picked 15 best players each for the men's and women's team. The teams included players from Kashmir to Kanyakumari and the camp helped them adjust to the team.