South Zone Wushu League to kick off Khelo India Women’s League

The fourth season of the Khelo India women’s league will kick off with the South Zone Wushu League in Bagalkot, Karnataka, on June 10.

A total of 300 athletes will be in action at the 2024-25 edition of the Khelo India women’s league. Athletes will participate in sub-junior, junior and senior categories across the league.

The Wushu League is open to all players from Andhra Pradesh, Pondicherry, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, Telangana, Andaman and Nicobar, Lakshadweep and Odisha.

The fourth season of the Khelo India women’s league initiative gets underway on the back of a successful 2023-24 season, which saw a total of 502 completed tournaments and participation from over 56,000 women athletes from 36 States and UTs across 18 sports.

Kuldeep Handoo, head coach of the national wushu team, said the Khelo India women’s league has given a huge push to the sport. “The Khelo India women’s league has been a big boost to the wushu national calendar and female athletes across all the three divisions – sub-junior, junior and senior are benefitting from it. This is being lapped up really well and the participation figures have risen manifold,” he told Sports Authority of India.

Handoo added that the league is a good initiative and it helps athletes to compete on level with international athletes on the global stage. “Initiatives like the Khelo India 10 ka Dum, where at least 800 women from every state came to compete, have changed the landscape altogether. Be it the Jammu and Kashmir, the North-East or any other zone of the country, wushu athletes are coming up aplenty and this is building up to more medals in the sport in international events. The league is a great initiative and a welcome step by SAI,” the coach added.

A prize money of INR 7.2 lakh will be shared between the top eight wushu athletes from the sub-junior, junior and senior events. The South Zone event is the first of the wushu leagues this season, with the action shifting to East Zone, North Zone and West Zones later this year.