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SPORTS
Eternal India
encyclopedia
tionalistic interests utilised such indigenous games to motivate
youngsters during the Independence struggle to come together
under a common platform and then propagate their nationalistic
messages.
After Independence, private clubs and organisations began
popularising this game, which requires explosive bursts of speed,
fast reactions, quick thinking and tremendous stamina, besides
ability and body control to swerve out of the way or dodge a rival
chaser. The game inculcates the Indian philosophy of ‘simple liv-
ing, but high thinking.’
The Akhila Bharatiya Kho Kho Mandal (ABKM) formed at the
initiative of the National Association -of Physical Education and
Recreation initially organised national level tournaments. Subse-
quently, due to the efforts of Bhai Nehrurkar, a national federation
for kho kho and kabaddi was established in 1955 with Bhai Nehrur-
kar as the first president. The association was later bifurcated as
separate national federations for kho kho and kabaddi. In the
meanwhile, the ABKM had become defunct and the responsibility
of conducting the national championship fell on the Kho Kho Fed-
eration of India. The first national championship for men was held
during 1959/60 in Vijayawada and Maharashtra emerged as the
national champion. The first national championship for women was
held at Kolhapur during 1960/61 with Madhya Pradesh emerging as
the champion. The first national junior championship for boys was
introduced in Hyderabad in 1970/71 and the first national junior
championship for girls in Dewas in 1974/75. The sub-junior cate-
gory (both boys and girls) was introduced in Pondicherry in 1986/
87. The inter-zonal Federation Cup was introduced in 1983 and
from 1991, the senior nationals has become*an open championship
in order to accommodate institutional teams.
Though there are records of the demonstration of the game by
Indian teams in Sweden and Denmark in 1949, the first recognised
foreign tour was in 1987 when a 20-member Indian women’s team
toured Russia for 15 days as a part of the Festival of India, dem-
onstrating the sport in Moscow, Kiev and Minsk cities.
Arjuna Award
: Sudhir Parab, Bhavana Parekh, Achala Deore,
Nilima Sarolkar, Shrirang Inamdar, Usha Nagarkar, Shekar Dhar-
wadkar, Hemant Takalkar, Sushma Sarolkar, Veena Parab,
Prakash, and Surekha Kulkarni.
Ekalavya
(men): Vishwanath Mayakar, Sudhir Parab (twice),
Mohan Ajagoakar, Subash Wagh, N. Prakash, Arvind Patwardhan,
Prakash Seth, Suresh Ponkshe, Hemant Jadhav, Venkatraju, N.
Srinivas, Milind Purandare, Hemant Takalkar, Vilas Deshmukh,
Milink Maruthe, Pandurang Parab, S. Prakash, Nirmal Jhorat,
Sanjay Mouli, Abhay Joshi and Atul Suresh Karkhane.
Rani Lakshmi
(women): Usha Raman, Pushpa Bandodkar, Ur-
mila Paranjape, Usha Loharkar, Shylaja Pinje, Achala Deore, Jyothi
Rode, Nilima Sarolkar, Usha Sarolkar, Niramala Medakar, Kalindi
Phadke, Nisha Vidya, Hema Kabara, Nisha Ambike'and Nilima
Deshpande.
Veer Abhimanyu
(Junior boys): Hemant Jagdeo, Ashok Dahije,
Hemant Takalkar, Pradeep Patil, Jairaj Prasad, Vivek Ansikar,
Kishore Rathi, Prakash K.V. and Sarang S. Bhapat.
Janaki
(Junior girls): Sumitra Deshpande, Swati Motiwale, Arun-
dathi Pandit, Asha, Sudha, Chethna, Vaishali Sharavali, Swathi
Karkanis, Seema Joshi, Surekha Kulkarni, Swathi Kulkarni, Vina
Chandra, S.R. Patil and Veena T.H.
LAGGORIE
A very popular recreational sport, espe-
cially among children, in cities and villages, the
game of 'laggorie' is played in an open field.
The equipment required is either a tennis or a
soft rubber ball and seven chips of flat stones.
The game is played between two teams of un-
specified numbers.
The game begins with the seven chips of flat stones piled one
on top of the another in a pyramid like structure. One team fields,
while the other begins the game by first trying to knock the pyramid
off the ground. A player is normally given three chances to knock off
the pyramid and the players will then try to reconstruct it, while the
fielding side will go all out to prevent this by knocking at their op-
ponents with the ball.
The first team will endeavour to ward off the challenge and
complete the pyramid formation. If it succeeds, then it will claim
'laggorie' or a winning point. Again this game can be played on a
points basis or for some small stake. After the first team has com-
pleted its task, the second team will try to claim a laggorie, while the
former becomes the fielding side.
MALLAKHAMB
An indigenous sport, mallakhamb also known
as 'pole gymanstics’ was prevalent during the
Chalukyan era in 12th century. Mention of this
sport is made in
Manas-Olhas,
a classic by
Chalukya in 1135 A.D. The game subsequently
remained dormant, before it was revived in the
19th century by Balambhatta Dada Deodhar.
While Indian mythology abounds in ancedotes of sheer heroic feats
by people like Hanuman and Bheema, mallakhamb is a sport which
requires a performer to be highly physically skilled to perform the
exercises of turn, twist, stretch and balance on the pole. The game
can also be played with a hanging rope, instead of a pole. Consid-
ered as a part of the training regimen of wrestlers, mallakhamb has
become a sport unto itself with competitions being organised at the
national level. Though an individual event, mass, pyramid-like, ex-
ercises are also performed on the pole. The 'bottle mallakhamb' in
which the mallakhamb revolves on its axis was devised by Sita Ram
Gupta, a Guru (coach) in the Shri Laxmi Vijayam Mandir, Jhansi in
* 1960.
MOTOR
RALLY
&
MOUNTAINEERING
=>
A
Great
Destination
(Adventure Sports
Pg. No. 89)-
NETBALL
Devised in the US as an indoor exercise around
1891, the game involves throwing a ball through
a suspended ring, 3.05 metres above the ground.
It was introduced in India in 1920 by Dr. Henry
Buck at the YMCA College of Physical Educa-
tion in Madras.
The Netball Federation of India was formed in 1978 and the first
national championships held at Jind, Haryana from May 31 to June 3
of that year.