Lagori in Bihar

Reviewed profileAchievements, tournaments, coaches and FAQs on this page are compiled by hand from federation, government and press reporting, drawing on Wikipedia — Seven stones, Grokipedia — Seven stones, Mangalorean.com — 7th National-level Lagori Championship 2018, Livingstone Foundation International School — ALFI and international championship history, Bharatiya Khel (bharatiyakhel.in) — Lagori/Pitthu modernised rules, Journal of Integrated Health Sciences — 'Sprint Time Performance in Pittu: A Traditional Indian Sport', Traditional Games Federation of India (traditionalgamesindia.com) — Satoliya, Topendsports — Lagori, Montessori Physical Education — Seven Stones regional and international names. These are not cited to individual documents: we hold no per-claim source for them, so treat dates, counts and career records here as a summary rather than a reference. Sections we hold nothing for are left empty. Sport pages last reviewed as a set: September 2026.

Overview

Origin: Ancient India
Category: Traditional
Olympic discipline: No
Paralympic discipline: No
Central pathway: None recorded
Athlete profiles on SportSupport: 0

Governance and status

Each field below is shown only where we hold a source for it; anything else reads “Not currently verified” rather than a guess. Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports recognition is granted year by year, so it is only ever shown with the year it applies to. Last reviewed: September 2026.

Indian governing/organising body: Amateur Lagori Federation of India
Ministry recognition: Not currently verified
International federation: Not currently verified
Khelo India inclusion: Not currently verified
TOPS eligibility: Not currently verified
Olympic status: Not on the Olympic programme
Paralympic status: Not a Paralympic discipline

Lagori is listed on SportSupport in the traditional category. Its recorded origin is Ancient India. It is not on the Olympic programme. We list Amateur Lagori Federation of India as the Indian governing/organising body for the sport.

Lagori does not appear on the official Khelo India Games discipline list, and we hold no verified central pathway or current-year Ministry recognition record for it, so we make no Khelo India, TOPS, National Sports Development Fund or pension claim. Whatever competition exists is run by clubs, akharas, private promoters or state-level bodies. (Checked against Sports Authority of India / Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports — Discipline wise Participation in all editions of Khelo India Games (19th Edition).)

Scholarships & Funding

Central, state and private scholarships available for lagori athletes in India.

No central scholarship pathway
Lagori does not appear on the official Khelo India Games discipline list (Sports Authority of India / Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports), so Khelo India, TOPS and the National Sports Development Fund do not cover it. Athletes self-fund or rely on club and private support.

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Indian Players

No profiles yet

No athlete profiles are recorded for lagori yet. We only list athletes we can source, so this section stays empty until verifiable profiles exist.

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Rules

Lagori is a chase-and-rebuild game between two teams. A stack of seven flat stones is set up at the centre of the court; the attacking side throws a ball to knock the stack down, then tries to rebuild it while the defending side recovers the ball and eliminates attackers by hitting them below the knee. Attackers may not run while holding the ball. The International Lagori Federation has standardised competition play: squads of 12 with six players on court per set, sets of three minutes with a 30-second break, three sets to a match decided on points, and the randomly picked flat stones replaced by nine specially made circular fibre discs for international matches. The traditional playground version stays simple — seven flat stones, a rubber or tennis ball, teams of three to nine and throws from about 20 feet.

Authoritative rulebook: Amateur Lagori Federation of India.

Positions

Typical roles across traditional sports. These are category-level descriptions, not a sourced lagori squad list.

Raider / attacker
Traditional role responsible for scoring points in the opposition half.
Defender / anchor
Prevents the raider from returning and holds the defensive line.
All-rounder / captain
Both raids and defends; captain also runs on-field strategy.

Equipment

Standard kit and infrastructure required to train and compete in lagori at a federation-recognised event.

Seven flat stones for the traditional game, or nine specially made circular fibre discs for standardised international play
A soft rubber or tennis ball light enough to strike players safely below the knee
A marked court with a central stacking circle and a throwing line roughly 20 feet back
Regional variants use different balls — Kerala's dabba kali is sometimes played with an olapanthu, a ball woven from coconut leaves
No protective gear is required, which keeps the sport almost free to take up

Governing/organising body

Body listed on SportSupport

Amateur Lagori Federation of India

Amateur Lagori Federation of India is the body we list as the Indian governing/organising body for Lagori. We hold no sourced detail on its domestic calendar, selection norms or state structure, and no current-year Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports recognition record for it.

Origin: Ancient India
Olympic: No
Paralympic: No
Category: Traditional

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Major Indian Events

Domestic competitions we hold a source for in lagori.

National Lagori Championship
Organised by the Amateur Lagori Federation of India (ALFI), which is affiliated to the Asian and International Lagori Federation. The 7th edition was hosted at Mangaluru in January 2018 with more than 20 teams, arranged after the success of the Lagori Tulunadu Cup held in Dakshina Kannada in July 2017. The Lagori Association was formed in 2010 by the late Santosh Pralhad Gurav as founding president, and ALFI is now led by Sandeep Gurav.
Indian Lagori Premier League (ILPL)
Launched by ALFI in November 2017 as a televised franchise-style league, explicitly modelled on how the Pro Kabaddi League revived interest in another indigenous sport. It is credited with bringing the game back to national attention after decades of decline.
Recognition
Lagori has been documented as a new sport by the School Sports Federation of India, and is described in several sources as featuring in the National Games of India. Note that ALFI is a federation-led body rather than a Ministry-recognised national sports federation.

International Events

Continental and world-level competitions we hold a source for in lagori.

International Lagori Championship
The first was held in Bhutan from 2 to 4 June 2013 with nine countries competing, followed by a Triangular International Lagori Series involving India and neighbouring nations.
Lagori World Cup
The inaugural World Cup was played in 2015. Later editions have drawn India, Bhutan, Hong Kong, Brazil, Turkey, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Nepal. The game is now reported to be played in at least 30 countries.
Names across regions
Within India it is Pithu Garam in Punjab and Himachal, Lagori in Karnataka and Maharashtra, Lingoj in Telangana, Pitto or Pittu across Haryana, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal, Sitoliya in Rajasthan, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh, Satodiyu in Gujarat, Dabba kali in Kerala — sometimes played with a coconut-leaf ball called an olapanthu — Ezhu kallu in Tamil Nadu and Garam in Kashmir. Abroad it is Haft Sang in Iran, Sat Chara in Bangladesh, Pittu Garam in Pakistan, Seven Tilo in Nepal, Seven Tiles in Turkey and Teelo in Canada.

Leagues

No dedicated professional league is currently catalogued for lagori. The national championship under Amateur Lagori Federation of India remains the top domestic competition.

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International Players

Globally recognised lagori athletes to know outside India.

The international federation for lagori maintains the current world ranking — check the federation site for the up-to-date top names.

Career Options

Ways to build a career in lagori — on the field, on the sidelines and behind the scenes.

The game's history is traced to the Bhagavata Purana, which describes Krishna playing it with his friends, and it appears in later devotional literature including the abhangas associated with Sant Eknath — one of the oldest continuously played games on the subcontinent, with claims of 5,000 years of history
Competition rules have been genuinely modernised by the International Lagori Federation: teams of 12 with 6 on court per set, sets of 3 minutes with a 30-second break, three sets per match decided on points, no running with the ball, and the randomly picked flat stones replaced by nine specially made circular fibre discs for international play
The traditional playground version remains simple — seven flat stones, a rubber or tennis ball, teams of three to nine, throws from about 20 feet, and defenders eliminating attackers by hitting them below the knee
Involvement runs through ALFI state units, school programmes and the ILPL rather than a salaried professional pathway; the league and the World Cup circuit are the main routes to visibility
The sport's revival is a deliberate case study in reviving a nearly extinct game through league formats and standardised rules, and it has drawn on popular culture too — a game of Sitoliya Pitto Lagori featured in the finale of the web series Tripling

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Related academies

0 listed

No lagori academies are catalogued in the directory yet. Browse the full academy list or list your academy to appear here.

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FAQs

Common questions about lagori in India.

Who governs Lagori in India?▾

We list Amateur Lagori Federation of India as the Indian governing/organising body for Lagori, and state associations affiliated to it run age-group and state-level competition. We hold no current-year Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports recognition record for it, so this is not a statement that it is currently a recognised national sports federation — recognition is granted year by year.

Is Lagori an Olympic sport?▾

No, Lagori is not on the Olympic programme.

What government schemes support Lagori athletes?▾

TOPS does not apply, as Lagori is outside the Olympic programme. State-government cash awards or sports-quota employment can apply where a state notifies the discipline, which varies by state. Lagori does not appear on the official Khelo India Games discipline list, so we make no Khelo India claim for it.

Lagori in every state & UT

Dedicated pages for Lagori in each Indian state and Union Territory — academies, schemes, athletes and how to start.