New Delhi, 7 January (H.S.): International Kho Kho Federation has notified new rules for Kho Kho World Cup matches to be held in New Delhi from January 13 to 19 . These rules have been implemented with immediate effect for national and international Kho Kho matches.

The duration of Kho Kho match has been fixed at 50 minutes and before the match, both the teams will get a chance to choose the option of attacking and defense through toss, said International Kho Kho Federation President Sudhanshu Mittal in a statement.

Each team will have 15 players, out of which 12 players will play in the field while the remaining three players will be substitutes.

Crossing the central lane, getting up early, retreating and changing direction will be considered a foul.

The playing field for Kho Kho World Cup will be rectangular in size of 26 X 20 meters.

According to the rules, each match will be of two innings. Each innings will be divided into attacking and defensive turns of 7 minutes each. There will be a four minute interval after each innings and a three minute break between turns.

At the start of the turn, three defenders will join the field of play in a batch for defence. When all three defenders are declared out, there will be a break period of 30 seconds. The next batch of defenders will have to enter the field of play through the entry zone within 30 seconds and if they do not enter the field of play within the stipulated time period, they will be declared out for late entry.

If any batch of the defending team stays in the field for three minutes, an additional point will be awarded and thereafter an additional point will be awarded for every 30 seconds.

To execute Kho, the attacker will touch the back of the seated attacker with his palm/hand and immediately utter the word Kho loudly, which should be audible to the umpire/referee.

The attacking team will get two points for each successful out. Each team will be allowed two reviews.

The team with the highest score at the end of two innings will be declared the winner.

Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar