Bangladesh eye semis of inaugural Kho Kho WC

Despite being three-time runners-up of the Asian Kho Kho Championship, Bangladesh set their sights on the semifinals of the inaugural Kho Kho Word Cup due to a lack of preparation and the competition's new rules.

The first-ever Kho Kho World Cup (both men's and women's) is scheduled to get underway on January 13 at the Indira Gandhi Stadium, New Delhi, India with participants from six continents taking part in Kho Kho, an Asia-based sport.

Bangladesh men's team became runners-up in the first three editions in 1996, 2000, and 2016 before Nepal finished behind champions India in 2023. Meanwhile, Bangladesh women's team won silver in the 2016 SA Games but had to stay content with a bronze medal in the 2019 SA Games.

Bangladesh men's team also grabbed silver medals in 2016 and 2019 SA Games.

"Our initial target is to qualify for the semifinals in both men's and women's events and then think of moving into the final because we have taken preparation on the ground instead of the designated mat on which the game will be played. Also, the players are not familiar with the new rules of the game," said Bangladesh Kho Kho Federation general secretary Fazlur Rahman Babul yesterday.

Coach Mir Kaiser Sadik Sajib said, "We want to produce good results in the first-ever Kho Kho World Cup by restoring our past performance because we could not perform better in the last edition of the Asian Kho Kho Championship."

Former national player Sajib, however, mentioned he is not aware of the strengths of the opponents from outside Asia.

"We don't know much about the opponents outside Asia, so we can't predict anything at the moment. However, we are hopeful to perform better though a one-month preparation on the ground instead of the designated mat is not good enough for a tournament like the World Cup."

Both men's and women's teams, comprising 18 members each, are scheduled to fly out for India on Saturday before starting their campaigns on January 14.