Ultimate Kho Kho: Prajwal KH named Telugu Yoddhas skipper; Pratik Waikar picked as deputy

Bengaluru, Aug 10: Telugu Yodhas – the GMR Group owned franchise for the inaugural edition of the Ultimate Kho Kho on Wednesday announced attacker Prajwal KH as the captain of the team, whereas, all-rounder, Pratik Waikar was named vice-captain.

The Ultimate Kho Kho – the professional Kho Kho League of the Kho Kho Federation of India will kick-off their inaugural season on the August 14 at the Shri Chhatrapati Shivaji Sports Complex, Pune.

Telugu Yoddhas that represents the Telugu speaking region of India completed their player drafts successfully for the inaugural season earlier last month, drafting 22 top Kho Kho players from across India.

The 25 year old Karnataka born Prajwal KH, who was announced as the team’s captain for the inaugural season, is one of the leading attackers for Telugu Yoddhas. An engineer by education Prajwal took onto Kho Kho as a hobby in school which eventually turned out to become his passion and profession.

He has led his state team of Karnataka to win the Gold medal as a captain. Some other notable feats for Prajwal in his Kho Kho career so far include a Gold Medal in 2013-14 Federation Cup and 3^rd place finish for his state team in the 54^th Senior Nationals in 2021.

Pratik Waikar, the 30 year old International Kho Kho player from the state of Maharashtra is one of the most decorated athletes in the Telugu Yoddhas squad. Pratik, a Bsc Computer Science & MBA by education is an all-rounder and took to the sport at the age of 9.

Pratik has been a recipient of the Maharashtra’s Chhatrapati Sambhaji Raje Award in 2021. Pratik has been a part of Team India at many prominent International tournaments and has played a pivotal role for the national kho kho team winning Gold in SAF Games 2016.

The Telugu Yoddhas will be coached by renowned Kho Kho coach Sumit Bhatia who played an important role in having helped the Indian Women’s team win a Gold medals at the 3rd Asian Kho Kho Championship in 2016.

Sumit Bhatia, head coach of Telugu Yoddhas, said, “We are very happy to announce Prajwal as our captain & Pratik as our vice-captain for the inaugural season of Ultimate Kho Kho. Prajwal not only comes with a lot of experience which adds to his maturity but also has had the experience of leading his state team, that we took into consideration before finalising on him as our captain.

“Pratik’s experience and past achievements made it an obvious choice for us to put him as our vice-captain. It was our conscious decision to have a young captain looking at the future but we were also keen to have an experienced head backing our captain and no one fit the bill better than Pratik for us in the role of vice-captain. I am confident that we will do our best for the upcoming season bringing joy and glory to our fans from the Telugu region,” added Bhatia.

Some other big names who are a part of the Telugu Yoddhas squad are Rohan Shingade, Sudarshan and Arun SA. The squad of 22 is well balanced with a right mix of attackers, defenders and all – rounders.

The Telugu Yoddhas will start their campaign on the inaugural day of UKK, 14^th Aug, 2022, against Chennai Quick Guns.

All the matches will be broadcast LIVE & Exclusive on the Sony Sports Network from 7-10 PM from August 14^th – September 4th. The matches will also be LIVE streamed on the SonyLIV platform.

Source: Media Release