With help from YouTube, father-daughter duo sowing seeds of Kho Kho in Netherlands

Father Sjaak Groeneveld and daughter Ruby Groeneveld, a father-daughter duo, are doing their best to make Kho Kho popular in the Netherlands which is one of the 23 teams participating at the Kho Kho World Cup which got underway at the Indira Gandhi Arena in New Delhi on Sunday evening.

While 63-year-old Sjaak is the coach, the 29-year-old Ruby is the captain of the women’s team and also President of the Dutch Kho Kho federation.

“Kho Kho in Netherlands was unknown till 2-3 years ago. One of the organisers here got in touch with Ruby and one of her friends and asked us to form a team and prepare for the World Championships and that is why we are here,” says Sjaak, who himself used to play soccer (football) in his younger days.

“At the moment there is a male and a female team, there are 33 people in all who play Kho Kho. That is a start. We now proceed to European Championship and then we might start a Dutch League,” adds Sjaak.

Ruby explained the process of setting up the Dutch teams.

“We asked a few of our friends if they would like to play Kho Kho. After we got formed the teams, we started to watch YouTube videos and began to learn it ourselves,” she explains.

“After a month or two this person (organiser who got in touch with her) came over from England to us and he gave us training in Holland. That is when we got to know tricks of the game and got better. That is how I learnt,” says Ruby who used to play tennis and volleyball and also runs.

Sjaak says many of the players with the Dutch team are top cyclists.

“For collecting [more] people for Kho Kho we need a result here. Our mission is not to come last and I think we will manage. Top four or five countries are leaps above us.”

Ruby chips in, saying, “They have been playing for years. We cannot beat them. But there are some other countries who have only recently started playing and I think we can beat them.”

Tags : Kho Kho World Cup, Netherlands, Sjaak Groeneveld, Ruby Groeneveld, Indira Gandhi Arena, New Delhi