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Coming soon: Lagori tournaments at a school near you

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Lagori is also known as lingorchya in Maharashtra
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Four years constant efforts by Amateur Lagori Federation of India and Maharashtra Lagori Sanghatana have borne fruit as the state government has finally decided to recognise this traditional game as a sport. Thus, now Lagori tournaments can be held at school, taluka, district, state and zonal levels. The winners of the zonal tournaments will participate in National Lagori championship.

"The directorate of Youth and Sports Services of Maharashtra has included Lagori in the inter-school competitions from the academic year 2014-15," informed Santosh Gurav of Maharashtra Lagori Sanghatana.

Gurav said Lagori is played not only in India but world-over. He said the International Lagori Federation founded in 2010 has 17 countries as its members and first International Lagori championship was held in Bhutan in 2012.

He said after the initiative by ALFI, delegations from 8 countries have visited India to learn how to play Lagori.

Out of the 36 districts in Maharashtra, 30 districts are represented in Maharashtra Lagori Sanghatana.

Lagori is one of the 14 games being recognized by the state government as a sport. "The move is help popularise the game and attract more youth to take it up," said Shailendra Potnis, a Lagori enthusiast.

Lagori, also known as Lingorchya in Maharashtra, is played by two teams in an unlimited area. A member of one team (the seekers) throws a soft ball at a pile of stones to knock them over. Then the seekers try to restore the pile of stones while the opposing team (the hitters) throws the ball at them. If the ball touches a seeker, he is out and his team continues without him. But a team member can always safeguard himself by touching the opposite team member before the ball hits him.

It is known as Pitthu in Haryana, Sitoliya in Rajasthan, and Yedu Penkulata, Dikori or Pittu in Andhra Pradesh

In Kerala it is known as Dabba Kali and is played with a ball made of coconut leaves. In Tamil Nadu it is known as Ezhu Kallu.

Similarly, it is known as 7 Sang in Iran, Teelo in Canada, Pitho Garam in Pakistan, Seven Tilo in Nepal, Sat Chara in Bangladesh, Santracon in Afghanistan.

Lagori IPL in January
The India Premier League of Lagori would be held in Vijapur in Karnataka between January 25 and 30, 2015. The tournament would be held on the lines of cricket and kabaddi leagues with ten teams with different names and logos. After the Lagori IPL, World Cup of Lagori would be held in December 2015 in Mumbai and 30 countries have already confirmed participation for the same.

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