Kabaddi and Kho-Kho: Rules, Court Size and Federations

The correct answer is C, 7. A kabaddi side fields seven players at a time and keeps five substitutes, so the squad named for a match is twelve. The seven on the mat take turns as raider while the rest defend as antis, and when all seven of a side are put out the opponents earn two bonus points, a result called a lona. A is wrong because five is the number of substitutes in the squad, not the number on court, and five is also the playing number in basketball. B is wrong because six is the playing number in volleyball and has no place in kabaddi. D is wrong because nine is the number of players a kho-kho team puts on the field, and since kabaddi and kho-kho are taught together the examiner places the two numbers in the same set of options very often. Remember the pair as seven for kabaddi and nine for kho-kho.

The correct answer is B, Bangladesh. Kabaddi, known there as ha-du-du, was declared the national game of Bangladesh after the country's independence, and it is the single most asked fact about the sport in competitive papers. India, despite dominating the game and giving it the Pro Kabaddi League, has no officially declared national game at all, a point examiners also like to test. A is wrong because the national sport of Nepal is volleyball, which replaced dandi biyo. C is wrong because volleyball is also the national sport of Sri Lanka, although cricket is by far the more popular game there. D is wrong because the national sport of Bhutan is archery, which is reflected in its village festivals and in its Olympic entries. Keeping these four South Asian national sports together makes a reliable one-mark answer.

The correct answer is A, Lona. When a team succeeds in putting all seven players of the opposing side out, the whole opposing team is revived and the scoring team is awarded two extra points; this achievement is called a lona, sometimes spelt lona or lobh in older rule books. B is wrong because a super raid is a single raid in which the raider collects three or more points, which is impressive but is not the all-out bonus. C is wrong because a bonus point is the single point a raider earns by touching the bonus line with one foot grounded behind it when the required number of defenders is on the mat. D is wrong because a do-or-die raid is the third consecutive raid by a team after two empty raids, in which the raider must score or be declared out; it describes a situation, not a scoring bonus.

The correct answer is B, 30 seconds. A raider gets thirty seconds from the moment of entering the opposing half, and the raid must end with a return across the mid line within that time, or the raider is declared out. The limit was introduced to keep play fast and to stop raiders from loitering, and the clock is shown to the players and the crowd during professional matches. A is wrong because twenty seconds is too short and corresponds to no rule in the game, though the number is tempting because a men's half lasts twenty minutes. C is wrong because forty-five seconds exceeds the limit and no raid may run that long. D is wrong because sixty seconds would make breath control meaningless, which is the central skill of the sport, since the raider has to keep chanting the cant in one breath for the whole raid.

The correct answer is C, 1990. Kabaddi was included as a regular medal event at the eleventh Asian Games held at Beijing in 1990, and India won the first gold medal awarded in the sport. A is wrong, and it is the main trap in this question, because at the 1982 Asian Games in New Delhi kabaddi was only a demonstration sport; being shown at a Games is not the same as being a medal event. B is wrong because the 1986 Asian Games at Seoul did not carry kabaddi as a medal discipline. D is wrong because by 1998, when the Games were held at Bangkok, kabaddi had already been a medal sport for two editions. A useful chain to remember is Berlin 1936 as an Olympic demonstration, New Delhi 1982 as an Asian Games demonstration, and Beijing 1990 as the first medal event.

The correct answer is B, Maharashtra. Kabaddi carries a different local name in almost every region of the subcontinent, and in Maharashtra the game has long been called hu-tu-tu, after the sound of the raider's chant. A is wrong because in Tamil Nadu the game is called sadugudu, and Tamil Nadu is in fact where many trace the oldest form of the sport. C is wrong because in Andhra Pradesh and the Telugu speaking region it is called chedugudu. D is wrong because Punjab is associated not with a separate name but with a separate style, the circle style kabaddi played on a round field with rules different from the standard or national style; the Punjab form has its own world cup. The fourth name worth learning is ha-du-du, used in Bangladesh and in eastern India.

The correct answer is B, 2014. The Pro Kabaddi League, a city-franchise competition played on a mat before a television audience, began in 2014 and is widely credited with turning kabaddi from a rural sport into a professional one with full-time players and sponsorships. Its arrival also raised the profile of raiders and defenders enough for them to be asked about in general knowledge papers. A is wrong because 2012 is the year of the London Olympics and carries no kabaddi milestone. C is wrong because 2016, although a busy year for Indian sport with the Rio Olympics and the South Asian Games at Guwahati where kho-kho was included, is two years after the league started. D is wrong because 2018 is the year of the Jakarta Asian Games, by which time the league had already completed several seasons.

The correct answer is C, 9. A kho-kho team consists of twelve players of whom nine take the field. Eight of these sit in the central lane facing alternate directions, while the ninth is the active chaser who pursues the defenders; the duty passes when the active chaser touches a seated team-mate from behind and calls out kho. A is wrong because seven is the number of players a kabaddi team puts on the court, and the examiner places the two indigenous games side by side precisely so that the numbers get swapped. B is wrong because eight is only the number of chasers seated in the central lane, one short of the full side on the field. D is wrong because eleven is the playing number in cricket, football and hockey, and has nothing to do with kho-kho.

The correct answer is B, Maharashtra. Kho-kho grew up in Maharashtra, and its first written rules were drawn up at Pune by the Deccan Gymkhana in 1914, which is why the state is treated as the home of the game in every standard account. The Kho Kho Federation of India, founded in 1955, carried those rules to the rest of the country. A is wrong because Punjab is associated with the circle style of kabaddi and with rural sports meets, not with the origin of kho-kho. C is wrong because Gujarat is linked with traditional games such as kho-kho only as a later participant, and its distinctive folk forms are different. D is wrong because Karnataka, though strong in the national championships, is not credited with the game's origin or its first code of rules.

The correct answer is B, 1955. The Kho Kho Federation of India was set up in 1955 as the national governing body for the sport, and it organised the first national championship at Vijayawada at the end of that decade; it also instituted the Eklavya Award for the best male player and the Rani Laxmibai Award for the best female player. A is wrong, and is the main trap here, because 1950 is the year the Amateur Kabaddi Federation of India was formed; the two federations are five years apart and the examiner relies on candidates mixing them up. C is wrong because by 1960 the federation was already running national competitions. D is wrong because 1965 is later still and is associated with no founding milestone in the sport. Remember the pair as kabaddi 1950 and kho-kho 1955.

The correct answer is A, 27 m x 16 m. The rectangular field of play in standard kho-kho is 27 metres long and 16 metres wide, with a wooden pole standing at each end of the central lane and free zones beyond the poles in which the defenders may run. Eight cross lanes divide the central lane into the squares in which the chasers sit. B, C and D are wrong because each alters one of the two measurements, and that is exactly how such questions are set: the candidate who remembers only one of the numbers is drawn to the option that keeps it. Pairing the figure with kabaddi's court, which is 13 metres by 10 metres for men and 12 metres by 8 metres for women, is the quickest way to hold both in memory, since a kho-kho field is roughly twice as long as a kabaddi court.

The correct answer is B, Berlin 1936. Both Indian games were demonstrated at the Berlin Olympic Games of 1936, the display being arranged by the Hanuman Vyayam Prasarak Mandal of Amravati in Maharashtra, and this remains the only Olympic appearance either sport has made. A demonstration sport is shown to the public at the Games but carries no medals. A is wrong because the Los Angeles Games of 1932 are remembered in Indian sport for the hockey team's gold, not for kabaddi or kho-kho. C is wrong because the London Games of 1948 were the first the independent Indian contingent attended, and the hockey gold there is the famous fact, not an indigenous games display. D is wrong because the Helsinki Games of 1952 are remembered for K. D. Jadhav's bronze in wrestling, India's first individual Olympic medal.