New Delhi: Pratik Waikar and Priyanka Ingle were named as the captains of the Indian men’s and women’s teams, respectively, for the upcoming 2025 Kho Kho World Cup. The announcement was made by the Kho Kho Federation of India on Thursday at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in New Delhi.
Both Pratik and Priyanka hail from the Pune city of Maharashtra and have played important roles in helping their state team win the national championships. Both the captains have a similarly introduced the sports at their respective schools.
Priyanka has played 23 nationals thus far in 15 years and was also part of the Indian team in the 2023 Asian Championship. She has earned numerous awards at the junior and regional level such as the Ila Award and Rani Laxmibai Award (in Maharashtra) and also won gold in the 4th Asian Kho Kho Championship 2022-23.
“I feel very proud to be the captain of the Indian women team. Only when the team was declared I got to learn that I am going to be the captain,” Priyanka told News9 Sports after she was named captain on Friday.
“When I started playing, the game wasn’t well-known and thus there wasn’t much support from the family. As soon as there was a platform when I played my first nationals in eighth standard, but today they feel very proud seeing me at this level,” she added.
Indian women’s team selector Dr Munni Joon said that Priyanka’s wealth of experience influenced the decision to name her the captain.
“We took a camp for a month. We saw that this girl (Priyanka) has won the Rani Laximibai Award. She has been the captain of the senior national gold-winning team and was part of the 2023 Asian Championship. Looking at her performance and a long career, we felt that Priyanka is the responsible captain of her team,” said Munni.
Pratik started playing the indigenous sport in 2000 after joining the Nav Maharashtra Sangh in Pune’s SP College. He has played and led the U1-4, U1-18 and senior team of Maharashtra and also led Telugu Yoddhas in the Ultimate Kho Kho League. He led Maharashtra to gold in the 56th national championship. The 32-year-old wants India to perform well in the inaugural edition of the World Cup.
“I have too many expectations from the team as the World Cup is a global event. I want us to perform well and also want Kho Kho to make it to the Olympics someday after looking at this event,” Pratik told News9 Sports.
“I have an appeal to young kids to come and watch Kho Kho and try the game because there are too many opportunities here,” he added.
Pratik feels that Nepal and Bangladesh will be the challengers for India and the teams that can surprise them would be England, Australia and the USA.
There was a preparatory camp held at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, where 60 boys and girls from the country appeared. Out of those, the federation finalised 15-member squads each for the men and women team along with three standby players (three in each squad).
Ashwani Kumar Sharma will be the mentor of the men’s squad and Sumit Bhatia will be the head coach of the women’s team.
The World Cup will take place from January 13 to 19 at the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium in New Delhi.
India men’s Kho Kho squad for World Cup
Pratik Waikar (Captain), Prabani Sabar, Mehul, Sachin Bhargo, Suyash Gargate, Ramji Kashyap, Siva Pothir Reddy, Aditya Ganpule, Gowtham M.K., Nikhil B, Akash Kumar, Subramani V., Suman Barman, Aniket Pote, S. Rokeson Singh
Standby: Akshay Bangare, Rajvardhan Shankar Patil, Vishwanath Janakiram.
India women’s Kho Kho squad for World Cup
Priyanka Ingle (Captain), Ashwini Shinde, Reshma Rathore, Bhilar Devjibhai, Nirmala Bhati, Neeta Devi, Chaithra R., Subhashree Sing, Magai Majhi, Anshu Kumari, Vaishnavi Bajrang, Nasreen Shaikh, Meenu, Monika, Nazia Bibi
Standby: Sampada More, Ritika Siloriya, Priyanka Bhopi.
Pratik Waikar and Priyanka Ingle were named as the captains of the Indian men’s and women’s teams, respectively, for the upcoming 2025 Kho Kho World Cup. The announcement was made by the Kho Kho Federation of India on Thursday at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in New Delhi. Other Sports Sports News: Latest Cricket News, Cricket Live Score, Sports Breaking News from Sports Today
