A player of Yogoda Satsang Mahavidyalaya chases a participant from the Jamshedpur Women’s College during a kho kho tournament on the school’s premises on Monday. Picture by Prashant Mitra

Ranchi, Nov. 24: Yogoda Satsang Mahavidyalaya (YSM) defeated St Xavier’s College at the inaugural match of the two-day Ranchi University Inter-college Kho Kho Tournament.

The tournament was declared open by Ranchi University vice-chancellor A.K. Khan at the YSM grounds.

The match began from 11.30am after a brief address by Khan.

St. Xavier’s won the toss and chose to defend.

YSM players secured 15 points and an inning lead, while St Xavier’s secured five points in the second half.

Attacking the YSM players in the second inning, St Xavier’s could manage only three points.

At the end of the game, YSM registered a lead over St Xavier’s with a lead of an inning and seven points.

Six teams are slated to participate in the league match that will conclude tomorrow after a prize distribution ceremony.

In the second match of the day between Jamshedpur Women’s College and YSM, the former won with a margin of three points. Winning the toss, YSM players scored eight points, four in each inning.

In reply, winning team scored 11, including nine in the first inning and two in the second inning.

In the third match, between Jamshedpur Women’s College and Graduate School College for Women, the former won again scoring 13 points in the first inning.

The defending team could score four and six in first and second innings, respectively.

“Though this is the first time that I heard of kho kho and saw it being played, I found the sport entertaining,” said a second-year arts student, Sanjay Mahto. He added that he would be back for day two of the tournament.

The YSM games teacher, Dhaneshwar Mahto, said that the event helped bring the sports to the fore — also showed the talent of the state’s players. He believes that the game could become really popular among sports lovers in the state.

“If popularised further there would be a greater number of teams participating in the next tournament,” he said.