Sports GK Mixed Quiz: Set 30

The correct answer is C, javelin throw. Neeraj Chopra won the gold in the men's javelin throw at the Tokyo Games, held in 2021 after a year's postponement, giving India its first Olympic gold in track and field and only its second individual gold of any kind. He followed it with the silver in the same event at Paris in 2024, becoming the first Indian track and field athlete to win medals at two Games. A, B and D are wrong because India has never won an Olympic medal in the discus throw, the shot put or the long jump, although Indian athletes have reached finals in them; Milkha Singh's fourth place in the 400 metres at Rome in 1960 and P. T. Usha's fourth in the 400 metres hurdles at Los Angeles in 1984 are the famous near misses in Indian athletics.

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 A, Miraitowa. Miraitowa, a blue chequered figure whose name joins the Japanese words for future and eternity, was the mascot of the Tokyo Olympic Games held in 2021 under the name Tokyo 2020. Option B is a close trap, because Someity was the mascot of the Tokyo Paralympic Games of the same edition, named after a cherry blossom variety; papers often swap the Olympic and Paralympic mascots. Option C is wrong because Vinicius was the Olympic mascot of Rio 2016, with Tom as its Paralympic partner. Option D is wrong because Wenlock was the Olympic mascot of London 2012, with Mandeville as the Paralympic one. Learn these in pairs, the Olympic name first and the Paralympic name second: Wenlock and Mandeville for 2012, Vinicius and Tom for 2016, and Miraitowa and Someity for 2020.

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 A, Hockey. Hockey has brought India thirteen Olympic medals, made up of eight golds between 1928 and 1980, the silver of Rome in 1960 and bronze medals at Mexico City in 1968, Munich in 1972, Tokyo in 2020 and Paris in 2024, which is more than any other sport and also accounts for eight of India's ten golds. B is wrong because wrestling, India's strongest individual sport, has eight medals, from K. D. Jadhav in 1952 to Aman Sehrawat in 2024, but none of them gold. C is wrong because shooting has seven medals, including Abhinav Bindra's gold of 2008. D is wrong because badminton has three, Saina Nehwal's bronze of 2012 and P. V. Sindhu's silver of 2016 and bronze of 2020. The order to remember is hockey, wrestling, shooting.

The correct answer is C, Bachendri Pal. She reached the summit of Everest on 23 May 1984 as a member of an Indian expedition and became the first Indian woman and the fifth woman in the world to do so. Option A is wrong because Santosh Yadav holds a different distinction: she became the first woman in the world to climb Everest twice, in 1992 and 1993, and also summited by the difficult Kangshung face. Option B is wrong because Arunima Sinha, who climbed in 2013, is remembered as the first female amputee in the world to reach the summit. Option D is wrong because Premlata Agarwal, who climbed in 2011, was the oldest Indian woman to do so at the time. A useful ordering is Junko Tabei in 1975 as the first woman in the world, Bachendri Pal in 1984 as the first Indian woman, and Santosh Yadav in 1992 and 1993 as the first woman to do it twice.

The correct answer is C, Beijing. Beijing held the Summer Olympic Games of 2008 and the Winter Olympic Games of 2022, becoming the first city anywhere to host both, and its Winter mascot was the panda Bing Dwen Dwen. Option A is wrong because Tokyo has hosted only Summer Games, in 1964 and in the 2020 edition; the Winter Games in Japan went to Sapporo in 1972 and Nagano in 1998. Option B is wrong because Innsbruck in Austria has hosted the Winter Games twice, in 1964 and 1976, but never the Summer Games. Option D is wrong because Lake Placid in the United States has also hosted only Winter Games, in 1932 and 1980. The question is a favourite because it needs both lists at once, so keep Beijing 2008 and 2022 together in memory.

The correct answer is B, Bhutan, where archery is the official national sport and village tournaments with song and dance are part of festival life. Option A is wrong because Nepal declared volleyball its national sport in 2017; the traditional game earlier associated with it was dandi biyo. Option C is wrong because Mongolia is linked with the three manly sports of the Naadam festival, wrestling, horse racing and archery together, rather than with archery alone as a declared national sport. Option D is wrong because Myanmar is associated with chinlone, a cane ball game, and no archery declaration. In the Indian neighbourhood the list to hold is Bhutan with archery, Nepal and Sri Lanka with volleyball, Bangladesh with kabaddi and Pakistan with hockey, while India has declared no national game at all.

The correct answer is B, P. V. Sindhu. She won the silver medal in women's singles badminton at Rio de Janeiro in 2016 and the bronze at Tokyo in 2020, becoming the first Indian woman to win medals at two Olympic Games. A is wrong because Saina Nehwal won a single Olympic medal, the bronze in women's singles at London in 2012, which was India's first badminton medal at the Games. C and D are wrong because Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa, India's best known women's doubles pair, reached the Olympics but have not won a medal there, although they did win medals at the Commonwealth Games and the World Championships. Candidates should fix the badminton sequence as Saina in 2012, Sindhu in 2016 and Sindhu again in 2020.

The correct answer is B, coaches of sportspersons. The Dronacharya Award was instituted in 1985 and honours coaches who have consistently produced outstanding athletes, the name being taken from the teacher of archery in the Mahabharata. Option A is wrong because active sportspersons are recognised by the Arjuna Award for sustained performance and by the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award for the most outstanding performance overall. Option C is wrong because there is no national sports award dedicated to journalists in this group of honours. Option D is wrong because corporates and other organisations that promote sport are recognised by the Rashtriya Khel Protsahan Puraskar, instituted in 2009. The clean way to remember the set is players to Arjuna, coaches to Dronacharya, retired players to the Dhyan Chand Award and organisations to the Protsahan Puraskar.

The correct answer is B, Chamonix. The first Winter Olympic Games were held at Chamonix in the French Alps in 1924, the same year as the Paris Summer Games, and were recognised afterwards as the first winter edition. Option A is wrong because St Moritz in Switzerland hosted the second Winter Games, in 1928, and hosted again in 1948. Option C is wrong because Lake Placid in the United States hosted the third Winter Games, in 1932, and again in 1980. Option D is wrong because Oslo hosted in 1952, the first Winter Games in a Scandinavian capital. Note also that until 1992 the Winter and Summer Games shared a year; from the Lillehammer Games of 1994 the Winter Games were shifted to a separate even-numbered year, which is why 1992 and 1994 come so close together.

The correct answer is A, gaur, the Indian bison. Moga was modelled on the gaur, the large wild cattle of the Western Ghats which is the state animal of Goa, and it was chosen as the mascot when Goa hosted the 37th National Games in 2023. Option B, the Asiatic lion, was the basis of Savaj, the mascot of the Gujarat edition of 2022, and the lion belongs to Gujarat alone in the wild. Option C, the Nilgiri tahr, is the state animal of Tamil Nadu and a mountain goat of the Western Ghats, which makes it a plausible southern choice but it has not been a National Games mascot. Option D, the Himalayan monal, is the state bird of Uttarakhand and was the basis of Mauli, the mascot of the 38th edition in 2025. The reliable shortcut once again is to ask which animal belongs to the host state.

The correct answer is C, Manu Bhaker. At the Paris Games of 2024 she won bronze in the women's 10 metre air pistol and a second bronze in the 10 metre air pistol mixed team event with Sarabjot Singh, the first time an Indian had won two medals at one edition of the Games. A is wrong because Sushil Kumar won two Olympic medals, a bronze in 2008 and a silver in 2012, but at two different Games, which makes him the first Indian to win individual medals at successive Olympics, a different distinction. B is wrong because P. V. Sindhu also won her two medals at separate Games, 2016 and 2020. D is wrong because Neeraj Chopra's gold and silver came at Tokyo in 2020 and Paris in 2024 respectively. Read such questions carefully: at one Games, or at two.

The correct answer is A, Sunil Gavaskar. Gavaskar reached ten thousand Test runs in 1987, the first cricketer of any country to do so, and he had earlier passed Don Bradman's record of twenty-nine Test centuries, finishing his career with thirty-four. He also scored 774 runs in his debut series in the West Indies in 1971, which remains among the greatest starts to a Test career. Option B, Sachin Tendulkar, went far beyond that figure and holds the record for the most Test runs and the most international centuries, but he was not the first to the ten thousand mark. Option C, Rahul Dravid, is another Indian in the ten thousand club and is remembered for his long partnerships and his slip catching. Option D, Allan Border of Australia, passed Gavaskar's aggregate later and was the second to the mark. Questions on this topic ask for the first, so read the stem closely.

The correct answer is D, Atlanta 1996. Izzy, first shown as Whatizit, was the mascot of the Atlanta Games of 1996 and is remembered as the first Olympic mascot that was not an animal or a human figure but an abstract shape made with computer animation. Option A is wrong because Barcelona 1992 had Cobi, a Catalan sheepdog drawn in the cubist manner, which is a real animal however modern the drawing. Option B is wrong because Sydney 2000 had three animal mascots, Olly the kookaburra, Syd the platypus and Millie the echidna, all native Australian species. Option C is wrong because Athens 2004 had Athena and Phevos, two children based on ancient Greek dolls and named after Greek deities. Atlanta 1996 is also the centenary edition, a hundred years after Athens 1896.

The correct answer is B, the Ladies European Tour. Aditi Ashok won the Hero Women's Indian Open in 2016, becoming the first Indian woman to win on that tour, and she went on to represent India at the Olympic Games, finishing fourth at Tokyo. Option A is wrong because the LPGA Tour is the American circuit, on which she has played without that particular first. Option C is wrong because the Japan tour is a separate national circuit altogether. Option D is wrong because the Asian women's tour is not the circuit attached to this record. The companion name to learn is Diksha Dagar, who plays with a hearing impairment, has won on the Ladies European Tour and won a medal at the Deaflympics, and among the men Ali Sher, the first Indian professional to win the Indian Open.

The correct answer is B, six. India's tally at Paris in 2024 was six medals, one silver and five bronze: Neeraj Chopra's silver in the javelin throw, Manu Bhaker's bronze in the women's 10 metre air pistol, the bronze she won with Sarabjot Singh in the mixed team event, Swapnil Kusale's bronze in shooting, Aman Sehrawat's bronze in wrestling and the men's hockey team's bronze. A is wrong because five is the number of bronze medals alone, which is the usual trap. C is wrong because seven was India's tally at the Tokyo Games of 2020, the country's best at any Olympics, which included one gold; candidates often transpose the two figures. D is wrong because India has never won eight medals at a single Games. Remember: seven at Tokyo with a gold, six at Paris without one.

The correct answer is C, Australia. Australia has won the one-day World Cup six times, in 1987, 1999, 2003, 2007, 2015 and 2023, and its run of three in a row between 1999 and 2007 is unmatched. No other country is close to that record.

Option A, India, has won twice, in 1983 and 2011, and has also lost two finals, in 2003 and 2023. Option B, West Indies, won the first two editions in 1975 and 1979 and so also stands at two. Option D, England, won only in 2019, at its fourth attempt in a final, having lost those of 1979, 1987 and 1992. Keep the full roll in mind, because only six countries have ever won this trophy: Australia, India, West Indies, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and England.

The correct answer is C, Weightlifting. Saikhom Mirabai Chanu of Manipur won the silver medal in the women's 49 kilogram weightlifting category on the opening day of competition at the Tokyo Games, held in 2021, and it was India's first weightlifting medal since Karnam Malleswari's bronze at Sydney in 2000. A is wrong because India's wrestling medals at Tokyo were Ravi Kumar Dahiya's silver and Bajrang Punia's bronze, both in the men's events. B is wrong because the boxing medal at Tokyo was Lovlina Borgohain's bronze, in the women's welterweight class. D is wrong because India has never won an Olympic medal in archery, in spite of strong results at World Cup level. The seven Tokyo medals are worth learning as a set, since questions often ask for the sport attached to a name.

The correct answer is B, 1942 and 1946. The World Cup is played every four years, so after the 1938 tournament in France the next editions would have fallen in 1942 and 1946. Both were cancelled because of the Second World War and its aftermath, and the competition resumed only in 1950 in Brazil, twelve years after the previous one.

Option A is wrong because the 1938 World Cup was in fact held, in France, and won by Italy. Option C is wrong because the 1950 tournament did take place in Brazil, where Uruguay won the decisive match at the Maracana. Option D names 1940 and 1944, which were never World Cup years at all; the four year cycle from 1930 falls on 1934, 1938, 1942 and 1946, so those two years are outside the schedule entirely.