Bid to popularise kho kho in Bangladesh

The First Security Islami Bank – J One Lubricants School Kho Kho Tournament organised by Bangladesh Kho Kho Federation gets underway today at the Paltan ground.
Split into four groups, a total of 16 teams will take part in the boys’ part while a total of nine teams will play in two groups in the girls’ part of the tournament.
The federation held a press conference at the Dutch Bangla Bank auditorium at the BOA Bhaban on Wednesday in this regard to disclose details of the tournament.
President of Bangladesh Kho Kho Federation Shafik Al Mehdi, general secretary Fzlur Rahman Babul and deputy managing director of the First Security Islami Bank Abdul Kuddus were also present on the occasion.
The president in his address said, “kho kho is a folk sport in our country played in the rural areas down through the generation. Sad but true is, the sport came in verge of extinction in the course of time for not being practiced by the recent generations.” He said that the sport draws popularity in our neighbouring countries and now it is our turn to bring it to the people again.
“We have picked up a proper planning to popularise the sport in the country again. We believe that starting with the kids is a good idea as they will carry on playing it for long time,” said Shafik Al Mehdi, president of kho kho federation.
General secretary disclosed that a budget of taka 4.5 lakhs has been drawn to run the tournament. He said that J-One Lubricant will provide taka 1.5 lakh and the First Security Bank came up with taka 1.3 lakh. It was informed in the press conference that boys’ champions will be awarded with taka 10 thousand as well as the trophy and on the other hand, girls’ champions and runners-up will earn same amount of prize  money. The organisers informed that the state minister for youth and sports Ahad Ali Sarkar will inaugurate the tournament today at 4:00 pm. Managing director of the First Security bank MA Zakaria and chairman of J-One Lubricant Abdul Rakib Kazmi will also attend the opening ceremony.
The final of the tournament will be played on July 18.
On the opening day, a total of nine matches will be played in the boys’ part and five matches will be played in the girls’ part of the tournament.