Sports GK Mixed Quiz: Set 29

The correct answer is A, Norman Pritchard. At the Paris Games of 1900 he won two silver medals, in the 200 metres and the 200 metres hurdles, and the International Olympic Committee credits both to India, which makes him the country's first Olympic medallist. B is wrong because K. D. Jadhav won bronze in wrestling at Helsinki in 1952, which was the first individual medal won by an Indian for independent India but not the country's first medal overall; this is the commonest trap in the question. C is wrong because Dhyan Chand, though the greatest name of Indian hockey and a member of the gold-winning teams of 1928, 1932 and 1936, did not win the first medal; India's hockey gold run began twenty-eight years after Pritchard. D is wrong because Leander Paes won his tennis bronze at Atlanta in 1996, a full ninety-six years later.

The correct answer is B, Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay. They reached the summit on 29 May 1953 as part of a British expedition led by Colonel John Hunt; Hillary was a New Zealander and Tenzing Norgay a Sherpa who later became the first director of field training at the Himalayan Mountaineering Institute in Darjeeling. Option A is wrong because Mallory and Irvine disappeared high on Everest in 1924 and it has never been established whether they reached the top. Option C is wrong because Messner and Habeler made the first ascent without supplementary oxygen, in 1978. Option D is wrong because Herzog and Lachenal made the first ascent of Annapurna I in 1950, the first eight-thousander ever climbed. Everest had been identified as the world's highest peak by Radhanath Sikdar of the Great Trigonometrical Survey, and was listed for years only as Peak XV before it was named.

The correct answer is B, Athens. The first modern Olympic Games were held at Athens in 1896, two years after Pierre de Coubertin founded the International Olympic Committee at Paris, and Greece was chosen because the ancient Games had been held at Olympia. Option A is wrong because Paris hosted the second modern Games, in 1900, and hosted again in 1924 and 2024; it is where the IOC was founded in 1894, which is the source of the confusion. Option C is wrong because London first hosted in 1908, and again in 1948 and 2012. Option D is wrong because Rome hosted in 1960. Remember the pair 1894 Paris for the committee and 1896 Athens for the Games, because papers set one as the distractor for the other.

The correct answer is C, 1895. Morgan, working in Holyoke in the United States, designed volleyball as a gentler indoor game than the newly invented basketball, and a team plays six players on court. Option A is wrong because 1885 belongs to no landmark in this topic and is placed only to widen the spread of years. Option B is wrong because 1891 is the year James Naismith invented basketball, four years earlier and in the same part of the United States, which is precisely the confusion the question is built on. Option D is wrong because 1900 is the year the Davis Cup in tennis began, and also the year of the Paris Olympic Games, but it has nothing to do with volleyball. Remember the two inventions as a pair, basketball in 1891 and volleyball in 1895, and these questions become automatic.

The correct answer is B, Karnam Malleswari. She won the bronze medal in weightlifting in the 69 kilogram category at the Sydney Games of 2000, becoming the first Indian woman to win an Olympic medal of any colour. A is wrong because P. T. Usha, for all her achievement on the track, finished fourth in the 400 metres hurdles at Los Angeles in 1984, missing bronze by one hundredth of a second, so she never won an Olympic medal; this near miss is itself a popular question. C is wrong because Mary Kom won her boxing bronze at London in 2012, twelve years after Malleswari. D is wrong because Saina Nehwal won her badminton bronze at the same London Games of 2012. The order to remember is Malleswari in 2000, then Mary Kom and Saina Nehwal in 2012.

The correct answer is B, 1961. The Arjuna Award was instituted in 1961 to recognise consistently outstanding performance by a sportsperson over a period of years, and it remains the standard recognition for a leading active athlete who has not won the country highest sporting honour. Option A, 1951, is the year of the first Asian Games, held at New Delhi, and is a frequent distractor in sports chronology questions. Option C, 1985, is the year the Dronacharya Award for coaches was instituted, so the two years are often swapped by candidates. Option D, 1991, is when the Khel Ratna, then called the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna, was instituted as the highest honour. Remember the sequence: Arjuna in 1961, Dronacharya in 1985, Khel Ratna in the early 1990s and the Dhyan Chand lifetime award in 2002.

The correct answer is B, Munich 1972. Waldi, a dachshund in bright stripes, was the first mascot officially adopted by an Olympic Games, chosen because the dachshund is a German breed known for stamina. Option A is a trap that is close to being right: an unofficial figure called Schuss appeared at the Grenoble Winter Games of 1968, but Grenoble is not Mexico City, and the Mexico City Summer Games of 1968 had no official mascot. Option C is wrong because Montreal in 1976 had Amik, a beaver, the second official mascot. Option D is wrong because Moscow in 1980 had Misha the bear, the mascot that made the idea famous worldwide. Keep the order of the early official mascots in mind: Waldi at Munich, Amik at Montreal, Misha at Moscow and Sam at Los Angeles.

The correct answer is B, Goa. The 37th National Games were held in Goa in 2023, the state hosting them for the first time after a long wait, with events spread across Panaji and other centres and with the mascot Moga, a gaur or Indian bison, the state animal of Goa. Option A, Gujarat, hosted the previous edition, the 36th, in 2022, with the mascot Savaj, so the two are easily reversed and it is worth fixing the order as Gujarat then Goa. Option C, Jharkhand, hosted an earlier edition at Ranchi in 2011. Option D, Assam, hosted at Guwahati in 2007 and was the first north-eastern state after Manipur to stage the event. Remember the recent run in order of year: Kerala in 2015, Gujarat in 2022, Goa in 2023 and Uttarakhand in 2025.

The correct answer is B, Abhinav Bindra. He won the gold medal in the men's 10 metre air rifle at Beijing in 2008, India's first individual gold in any sport and the first gold of any kind since the hockey team's win at Moscow in 1980. A is wrong because Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore won silver in double trap shooting at Athens in 2004, which was India's first individual silver but not a gold. C is wrong because Neeraj Chopra won gold in the javelin throw at Tokyo in 2020, India's first gold in athletics but thirteen years after Bindra's. D is wrong because Vijay Kumar won silver in the 25 metre rapid fire pistol at London in 2012. The pair to keep separate is Bindra for the first individual gold and Neeraj Chopra for the first athletics gold.

The correct answer is B, South Africa. The inaugural ICC World Twenty20 was staged in South Africa in September 2007, and India beat Pakistan in the final at the Wanderers in Johannesburg, Joginder Sharma bowling the last over and Irfan Pathan taking three wickets. Mahendra Singh Dhoni led a young side from which several senior players had withdrawn, and Yuvraj Singh hit six sixes in an over off Stuart Broad of England in the same tournament. Option A, England, hosted the 2009 edition. Option C, the West Indies, hosted the 2010 edition. Option D, Sri Lanka, hosted the 2012 edition, in which India did not reach the final. Keep the pair in mind that the 2007 title was won in South Africa under Dhoni and the 2011 World Cup at home in Mumbai, again under Dhoni.

The correct answer is C, Moscow 1980. Misha, properly Mishka, was the bear chosen for the Moscow Games of 1980 and became the best known Olympic mascot of its time, partly because of its appearance at the closing ceremony. Option A is wrong because Seoul in 1988 had Hodori, a tiger cub, the tiger being a figure of Korean folklore. Option B is wrong because Los Angeles in 1984 had Sam, an eagle wearing a hat in the colours of the United States flag. Option D is wrong because Barcelona in 1992 had Cobi, a Catalan sheepdog drawn in a modern style. All four of these mascots are animals, which is why the matching question works: tie each animal to its country, bear to Russia, tiger to Korea, eagle to the United States, dog to Spain.

The correct answer is A, New Delhi, 1982. Golf entered the Asian Games at the ninth edition, held in New Delhi in 1982, the Games whose mascot was the elephant Appu, and both individual and team events have been contested since. Option B is wrong because the Bangkok Games of 1978 had no golf. Option C is wrong because Seoul 1986 was the edition after golf had already been introduced. Option D is wrong because Beijing 1990 came later still. For questions on golf at the Games, keep three facts ready: the 1982 debut in India, the format of individual and team medals decided by stroke play, and the fact that the field is largely amateur, which is why young players win Asian Games medals before they turn professional. The ninth Asian Games of 1982 are themselves a frequent question, since they were the second Games hosted by India after 1951.

The correct answer is C, Wrestling. Khashaba Dadasaheb Jadhav won a bronze medal in freestyle wrestling in the bantamweight category at the Helsinki Games of 1952, the first individual Olympic medal won by an Indian for independent India; until then every Indian medal except Pritchard's two had come from the hockey team. A is wrong because India's first boxing medal came much later, Vijender Singh's bronze at Beijing in 2008. B is wrong because India's first weightlifting medal was Karnam Malleswari's bronze at Sydney in 2000. D is wrong because India's first shooting medal was Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore's silver at Athens in 2004. Wrestling has since become one of India's strongest Olympic sports, with eight medals in all, from Jadhav in 1952 to Aman Sehrawat in 2024.

The correct answer is C, twenty kilograms. The men's competition bar weighs twenty kilograms and the women's fifteen, and the discs loaded on it are colour coded so that the total can be read from a distance: red for twenty-five kilograms, blue for twenty, yellow for fifteen, green for ten and white for five. A is wrong because ten kilograms is the weight of a green disc, not of any competition bar. B is wrong, and is the commonest confusion, because fifteen kilograms is the women's bar; a question that does not specify the sex of the lifter is testing exactly this pair. D is wrong because twenty-five kilograms is the heaviest standard disc, shown in red, and no bar weighs that much. The platform on which the lift is made measures four metres by four, and stepping off it makes the attempt invalid, which is another detail asked in the same breath.

The correct answer is B, London. London has held the Summer Olympic Games three times, in 1908, 1948 and 2012, and shares that record with Paris, which hosted in 1900, 1924 and 2024. Option A is wrong because Tokyo has hosted twice, in 1964, the first Games in Asia, and in the 2020 edition that was postponed to 2021. Option C is wrong because Los Angeles has hosted twice so far, in 1932 and 1984, and has been awarded the Games of 2028, which would be its third. Option D is wrong because Athens has hosted twice, in 1896 and 2004. The trap here is Los Angeles, since candidates count the awarded 2028 edition as though it had already happened, so read whether the question asks about Games held or Games awarded.

The correct answer is B, Kamaljit Sandhu, who won the four hundred metres at the Asian Games in Bangkok in 1970 and became the first Indian woman to win an individual gold at those Games. Option A is wrong because P. T. Usha's Asian Games haul came later, including four golds at Seoul in 1986, by which time the first had already been achieved. Option C is wrong because Shiny Wilson, a fine middle distance runner and relay runner of the same era as Usha, is remembered for Asian championship titles and for carrying the Indian flag at the Olympics. Option D is wrong because Kamalpreet Kaur is a discus thrower of a much later generation. The fact worth storing is the triple of name, event and year: Kamaljit Sandhu, four hundred metres, 1970.

The correct answer is C, eight. India won the hockey gold at six consecutive Games, from Amsterdam in 1928 through Los Angeles, Berlin, London and Helsinki to Melbourne in 1956, and then again at Tokyo in 1964 and Moscow in 1980, which gives eight golds in all. A is wrong because six is the number of consecutive golds, not the total, and that distinction is the usual trap in this question. B is wrong because no Indian hockey tally reaches seven as either figure. D is wrong because nine overstates the record; India has won no hockey gold since 1980, although the team took bronze at Tokyo in 2020 and again at Paris in 2024. Including the silver of 1960 and four bronze medals, hockey has brought India thirteen Olympic medals in all.

The correct answer is D, Fuwa. Beijing 2008 was the first Games to use a set of five mascots, called Fuwa, meaning good-luck dolls: Beibei a fish, Jingjing a panda, Huanhuan the Olympic flame, Yingying a Tibetan antelope and Nini a swallow, their first syllables together making a line of welcome. Option A is wrong because Hodori was the single tiger mascot of Seoul 1988. Option B is wrong because Cobi was the single dog mascot of Barcelona 1992. Option C is wrong because Izzy was the mascot of Atlanta 1996, remembered as the first mascot created on a computer rather than drawn from an animal. Sydney 2000 is the other Games with more than one mascot, three in its case, so keep the figure five for Beijing and three for Sydney when a paper asks for a count.

The correct answer is D, Moscow 1980. The Moscow Games gave India its eighth and most recent hockey gold, and it was also the last gold of any kind for India until Abhinav Bindra's shooting gold at Beijing in 2008. A is wrong because Melbourne in 1956 was the end of the run of six consecutive golds, not the last gold overall, since Tokyo in 1964 followed. B is wrong because Tokyo in 1964 was the seventh gold, not the eighth; it is a tempting answer for anyone who remembers only the consecutive run and the one that followed it. C is wrong because India won bronze, not gold, at Munich in 1972, as it had at Mexico City in 1968. The sequence worth memorising is six golds to 1956, then 1964 and 1980.

The correct answer is A, Tokyo. Tokyo hosted the Summer Olympic Games in 1964, the first time the Games were held in Asia, and the edition is also remembered for the first use of satellite television to carry the Games abroad. Option B is wrong because Seoul hosted in 1988, the second Asian Games. Option C is wrong because Beijing hosted in 2008, the third in Asia, and later became the first city in the world to host both a Summer and a Winter Olympics when it held the Winter Games of 2022. Option D is wrong because Bangkok has never hosted an Olympic Games, although it has hosted the Asian Games several times, which is the source of the confusion. The order to remember for Asia is Tokyo 1964, Seoul 1988, Beijing 2008 and Tokyo again in 2020.