Cuttack, January 9, 2024: Chennai Quick Guns ended the group stages of Ultimate Kho Kho Season 2 on top with a dominating 38-21 victory over Gujarat Giants at the Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor Stadium in Cuttack on Tuesday.
The result, coupled with Odisha Juggernauts’ win over Mumbai Khiladis, means that Chennai Quick Guns will take on Telugu Yoddhas in the second semifinal on Thursday. The first semifinal will see Odisha Juggernauts take on Gujarat Giants.
Ultimate Kho Kho, promoted by Amit Burman in collaboration with the Kho Kho Federation of India, became the first Indian sports league to secure Series A funding, courtesy the UK-based BNP Group.
Chennai Quick Guns made a good start to Turn 1, sending the first Gujarat Giants batch in under three minutes. The second batch of Shubham Thorat, Rajvardhan Patil and Pabani Sabar, however, managed a dream run point. And with all three members of the third batch staying unconquered, Chennai Quick Guns led 12-1 going into the second turn.
Turn 2 was where Chennai Quick Guns’ defenders killed the match off. Just 24 hours after setting a new record for the longest time spent on the mat by a single batch, Chennai Quick Guns came close to beating it. This time, the batch of Ramji Kashyap, Madan and Vjay Shinde went six minutes and 53 seconds, just seven seconds short of lasting an entire turn unconquered. First Ramji eluded the Gujarat Giants attackers for a full three minutes, then Madan and Vijay chipped in with impressive runs of their own. The trio had earned eight dream run points. Turn 2 featured only the second instance of the defending team scoring more than the attacking team in Ultimate Kho Kho Season 2.
Chennai Quick Guns attackers came to the party in Turn 3, sending back the first two Gujarat Giants batches in under four minutes. With their third batch too failing to see out time, Gujarat Giants were faced with the mathematically-impossible task of closing down a 31-point gap in the final turn.
Earlier, Odisha Juggernauts ended their group stage campaign with a 34-23 victory over Mumbai Khiladis.
Mumbai Khiladis started the match with their first defending batch of Hrushikesh Murchavade, Sibin M, and Pratik Devare securing two dream run points. But Odisha Juggernauts made quick work of the second batch to end Turn 1 with a 12-2 lead.
Turn 2 kicked off with Odisha Juggernauts’ first defending batch of Debendra Nath, Vishal and Nikhil Sodaye securing a dream run point. Their second batch of Vishal Oram, Sobhag Sriganda and Visag S did one better by getting two dream run points. The match, at the end of the first innings, looked tantalisingly poised with the scores at 15-14 in favour of Odisha Juggernauts.
Odisha Juggernauts turned the tide in their favour by making quick work of the first two Mumbai Khiladis batches. That meant that they carried a 15-point lead into the final turn. Manoj Kumar was the pick of the attackers for Odisha with six points.
And if there was a glimmer of hope for Mumbai Khiladis, Odisha Juggernauts’ opening batch of Mahesha P, Niranjan Samal and MD Mirajul killed it with a superb defensive display. They ran rings around the Mumbai Khiladis attackers, securing five dream run points and spending five minutes and 20 seconds on the mat. Mahesha, in particular, was impressive, as he eluded the Mumbai Khiladis attackers for two minutes and 33 seconds.
The exciting action of Ultimate Kho Kho will be telecast on Sony Sports Network’s channels and SonyLiv with live coverage of two matches starting at 7.30pm IST.
