53rd Senior National Kho Kho: Railways beat Maharashtra to clinch title; Airport Authority of India bag their maiden title in women's event

Maharashtra during attack against a Railways defender — Maharashtra during attack against a Railways' defender

Bemetara, December 30: Maharashtra fell short of glory in the finals as Railways clinched the men's final title while Airport won the women's title in the finals of the Chhattisgarh Amateur Kho Kho Association-organised 53rd Senior National Kho Kho Championships at Allons Public School Ground here on Monday (December 30).

The men's event witnessed a close encounter between the defending champion Maharashtra and last year's runner-up Railways. Maharashtra fought hard but Railways eventually managed to win the title by a margin of a single point with one minute to spare on the clock.

Railways' Vijay Hazare was exceptional on both ends of the mat as he defended for more than two minutes and also clinched 4 crucial wickets for the team in their 15-14 win against Maharashtra.

The Maharashtra women also played a nail-biting match against last year's runner ups Airport Authority of India (AAI) but much like their male counterparts, they too could not finish with a win. The women lost the finals 8-9 to the Airport team.

For Maharashtra, Mahesh Shinde displayed an all-round performance - securing 3 points and defending for almost 3 minutes while for the women Reshma Rathod played impressive defence for 3 minutes. Their performances, however, could not drive their teams to victory in the finals.

AAI chaser attacks a Maharashtra defende

Earlier in the day, Maharashtra defeated Kolhapur to advance to the finals in both categories. While Maharashtra outperformed arc rivals Kolhapur 21-14 in the men's event the women had to sweat hard in a close 8-7 win against Kolhapur women.

Source: Media Release