With 50 seconds left, the scoreboard read Australia 35-Malaysia 34. It was Australia’s last match in the men’s Kho Kho World Cup Group D stage and 18-year-old Mangesh Jagtap, their only remaining defender, had to survive to ensure a victory for his team. Under pressure, Mangesh effortlessly dodged the Malaysian attackers until the final whistle blew. Australia won and Mangesh was mobbed by his teammates, including elder brother Tejas.
“Mangesh had no energy left in his legs but had to save the game for Australia. He played with his heart and won the game for us. That is the biggest moment in our family’s sporting history,” Sandeep Jagtap, Mangesh’s father, said.
Sandeep, who played for local football clubs in Pune, moved to Australia in 2004. His sons Mangesh and Tejas are now part of the Australian team participating in the ongoing Kho Kho World Cup in Delhi.
Despite the win, the Australian men’s team finished third in their group and did not qualify for the next rounds. Mangesh, however, had a spectacular tournament as he won two best attacker awards and two best player awards in four matches.
Talking about what attracts him to the sport, Mangesh said, “It is such an intense and fast-paced sport. There is so much agility…balance. You need speed. You need strategy. You need skill. A lot of the teams we are seeing, they have very fast players but the opposition team is tactically better. So even though they are slower, they are still beating you.”
Sport has been a big part of the Jagtap family. The siblings began their Kho Kho journey by playing tournaments at the Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh unit in Sydney. They played their first matches two years ago and trained under Sukhada Bapat, a veteran Kho Kho player from Maharashtra.
A few months ago, they got picked for the first-ever Australian national men’s team for the World Cup. Unsurprisingly, over half the Australian team is of Indian origin. A traditional run-chase sport, Kho Kho involves attackers from a team chasing and touching defenders from the other team while running in a linear path around two poles.
“Mangesh and I were quite old in the shakha so we were expected to lead. Mangesh actually led the charge to have the entire team train weekly. And that included some nights where it was just me and him alone in a park with the weather being maybe 2 degrees or something,” says Tejas, who was born in Pune in 2003.
The family moved to Sydney the next year and Mangesh was born in 2006. Sandeep previously worked at Tata Motors in Pune and now runs his own company in Australia.
Despite their move to Australia, the family’s connection to Pune still runs deep, with the Jagtaps visiting the city every year or two. “I am a huge fan of Mastani. This year, I have been skipping it because we had the World Cup. But I love going to Sujata Mastani,” remarked Mangesh. On the other hand, Tejas enjoys eating at the Sandeep Hotel on Jangali Maharaj Road and visiting the Shaniwar Wada and the Jejuri Temple. They also have family in Solapur whom they regularly visit.
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