Sports GK Mixed Quiz: Set 35

The correct answer is B, Jahangir Khan. He won the British Open ten times in a row and went unbeaten in competitive play for over five years from 1981, a run of hundreds of consecutive match wins that is often called the longest winning streak in any professional sport. Option A, Jansher Khan, also of Pakistan, was the dominant player of the following decade and won the World Open eight times and the British Open six times, so the two are constantly interchanged. Option C, Hashim Khan, was the pioneer of the family dynasty and won the British Open seven times in the 1950s, when the tournament was treated as the world championship. Option D, Qamar Zaman, was another leading Pakistani player of the 1970s who won the British Open once. The unbeaten streak is the detail that fixes the answer on Jahangir.

The correct answer is B, 2008. The Board of Control for Cricket in India announced the Twenty20 league in 2007 and the first season was played in 2008, with Lalit Modi as the first chairman and commissioner. Option A is wrong, though it is the most tempting choice: 2007 is the year the league was founded and announced, and also the year India won the first ICC World Twenty20, but no IPL match was played in it. Option C is wrong because 2010 was the third season, held in India after the second season had been shifted to South Africa in 2009 because of the general election. Option D is wrong because 2012 was the fifth season, won by Kolkata Knight Riders. Read the stem carefully: a question about the founding year and a question about the first season played have different answers.

The correct answer is B, Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, which hosted the first European Games in 2015 under the European Olympic Committees. The event was created to give Europe a continental games of the kind Asia, Africa and the Americas already had, and several of its competitions double as qualifying events for the Olympic Games. Option A, Minsk in Belarus, hosted the second edition in 2019 and is the commonest wrong choice. Option C, Krakow, together with the Malopolska region of Poland, hosted the third edition in 2023. Option D, Budapest, has hosted world championships in swimming and other sports but not the European Games. For comparison, keep the first editions of the other continental games in the same list: the Pan American Games at Buenos Aires in 1951, the African Games at Brazzaville in 1965, the Mediterranean Games at Alexandria in 1951 and the Southeast Asian Games at Bangkok in 1959.

The correct answer is B, Montreal, Canada. WADA began work in 1999 from Lausanne and then moved its headquarters to Montreal, where the agency has remained; Lausanne continues as its European office. Option A is wrong, and it is the trap in this question, because Lausanne is the seat of the International Olympic Committee and of the Court of Arbitration for Sport, so candidates place every sports body there. Option C is wrong because Paris is the headquarters of UNESCO, which adopted the International Convention against Doping in Sport in 2005, and of the International Council of Sport Science and Physical Education, not of WADA. Option D is wrong because New York holds the United Nations headquarters and a branch office of the Court of Arbitration for Sport, but no office of WADA of that standing. Remembering the pair Montreal for WADA and Lausanne for the Olympic bodies settles a whole family of questions.

The correct answer is B, Jaipur Pink Panthers. Jaipur Pink Panthers won the inaugural Pro Kabaddi League final of 2014 against U Mumba, and the team's association with a film star owner gave the new league much of its early publicity. Option A is wrong because U Mumba were the beaten finalists in the first season and won the title in the second season. Option C is wrong because Patna Pirates became champions later and are remembered for a run of consecutive titles, not for the first season. Option D is wrong because Bengaluru Bulls won their first title several seasons after the league began. The safe way to handle kabaddi questions is to learn the first season's winner and runner-up, which never change, rather than the current champion, which does.

The correct answer is B, Berlin. At the World Athletics Championships held in Berlin in August 2009, Usain Bolt of Jamaica lowered his own world records to 9.58 seconds over 100 metres and 19.19 seconds over 200 metres, the two fastest times ever recorded. Option A, Beijing, is the obvious trap, because Bolt first stunned the world there at the 2008 Olympic Games, where he won both sprints and the relay, but those marks were slower than the Berlin times. Option C, London, hosted the 2012 Olympics, where Bolt retained his titles, and the 2017 World Championships, which were his last. Option D, Osaka, hosted the 2007 World Championships, a year before Bolt's rise, when Tyson Gay won the sprints. Bolt, nicknamed the Lightning Bolt, retired in 2017 with eight Olympic gold medals.

The correct answer is A, Lausanne, in Switzerland. CAS was established in 1984 at the initiative of the International Olympic Committee, whose own headquarters is in the same city, and it also keeps branch offices at Sydney and New York besides sitting in ad hoc divisions at the Olympic Games. Option B is wrong because Geneva hosts the United Nations European headquarters, the World Health Organization and the World Trade Organization, but not this court. Option C is wrong because The Hague is the seat of the International Court of Justice, the International Criminal Court and the Permanent Court of Arbitration, which are courts between states, not between athletes and federations. Option D is wrong because Monaco is the headquarters of World Athletics, the governing body of track and field, which is a federation and not a tribunal. Appeals from a CAS award lie only to the Swiss Federal Tribunal.

The correct answer is B, fifteen to eighteen years. The International Olympic Committee set this band when it created the Youth Olympic Games so that the event would reach adolescents at the stage when they are choosing whether to continue in sport, and the age is counted as of the year of the Games. The competitions are deliberately shorter than those of the Olympics, several events use mixed teams drawn from different countries, and a culture and education programme runs beside the sport. Option A, twelve to fifteen, is below the entry age and belongs to no major international games. Option C, eighteen to twenty-one, is the band used in some age-group world championships but not here. Option D, under twenty-three, is the familiar rule of Olympic football and of several other under-23 tournaments, which is why it is offered as a distractor. The World University Games, by contrast, use a student status rule with an age band of roughly seventeen to twenty-five.

The correct answer is B, football. The Indian Super League was launched in 2014 with franchises in eight cities and is run under the All India Football Federation, which from the 2019-20 season recognised it as the country's top football division, with the I-League below it. Option A is wrong because the hockey franchise league is the Hockey India League, which began in 2013 and was preceded by World Series Hockey. Option C is wrong because volleyball has the Pro Volleyball League, started in 2019, and later the Prime Volleyball League. Option D is wrong because basketball has had the UBA Pro Basketball League and other short-lived competitions, not the ISL. Also remember that India's oldest football tournaments are knockout cups rather than leagues: the Durand Cup of 1888 and the Santosh Trophy of 1941.

The correct answer is B, the Wizard of Hockey, also given as the Magician of Hockey. Dhyan Chand played centre forward in the Indian teams that won Olympic gold in 1928, 1932 and 1936, and his control of the ball was so complete that opponents suspected the stick itself. National Sports Day in India is observed on his birthday, the twenty-ninth of August, and the Dhyan Chand Award is named after him. Option A is wrong because the Flying Horse is a nickname of the hockey player Leslie Claudius in some accounts and is not the standard answer here. Option C is wrong because no such title is in use. Option D is wrong because Iron Man in Indian public memory belongs to Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, not to a sportsperson.

The correct answer is C, UNESCO. Because WADA is a private foundation, governments needed an instrument of international law through which they could commit themselves to the Code, and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization provided it by adopting the International Convention against Doping in Sport in 2005. It is the treaty that most countries, India among them, have ratified. Option A is wrong because the World Health Organization deals with health standards and medicines but is not the parent of this convention. Option B is wrong because the International Olympic Committee is a private body and cannot make a treaty; it enforces the Code through the conditions of entry to the Games instead. Option D is wrong because the Commonwealth Games Federation only organises its own Games and, like other federations, is a signatory to the Code rather than the author of a convention.

The correct answer is A, it was the first World Cup held outside England. The first three World Cups of 1975, 1979 and 1983 were all played in England, and the 1987 tournament, sponsored as the Reliance Cup, moved the event to the subcontinent for the first time; the overs were reduced from sixty to fifty, which has remained the standard since. Australia won the final against England at Kolkata. Option B is wrong because India's World Cup wins came in 1983 in England and in 2011 at home. Option C is wrong because day and night matches with a white ball became part of the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand in 1992, along with coloured clothing. Option D is wrong because the Duckworth Lewis method for rain affected matches was introduced in the late nineteen nineties, well after 1987.

The correct answer is B, Atletico de Kolkata. The Kolkata franchise, then partnered with the Spanish club Atletico Madrid, beat Kerala Blasters in the 2014 final with a goal in stoppage time, and the club was later renamed ATK. Option A is wrong because Kerala Blasters were the runners-up in that first final, which makes them the standard distractor. Option C is wrong because Bengaluru FC was founded in 2013 and played in the I-League first, entering the Indian Super League only from the 2017-18 season. Option D is wrong because FC Goa reached the semi-finals in the first season and won the league title later. The useful fact to carry into the exam hall is the first final itself: Atletico de Kolkata against Kerala Blasters, in 2014.

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.

The correct answer is C, stimulants and narcotics. The Prohibited List divides substances into those banned at all times, those banned only in competition and those banned only in particular sports. Stimulants, narcotics, cannabinoids and glucocorticoids fall in the in-competition group, because their effect is felt on the day of the event rather than through training. Option A is wrong because anabolic agents, which build muscle during training, are banned at all times, in and out of competition. Option B is wrong because peptide hormones and growth factors, among them erythropoietin and growth hormone, are likewise banned at all times. Option D is wrong because diuretics and masking agents are banned at all times, since their purpose is to flush or hide the traces of other drugs. Beta-blockers are the class banned only in particular sports, such as archery and shooting, where a slow heartbeat steadies the aim.

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 C, 2023. The Board of Control for Cricket in India launched the Women's Premier League in 2023 with five franchises, and Mumbai Indians won the first final against Delhi Capitals at the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai. Option A is wrong because 2018 belongs to the earlier Women's T20 Challenge, a short exhibition tournament of three teams played alongside the IPL playoffs, which the WPL replaced. Option B is wrong because 2021 saw no new BCCI franchise league for women. Option D is wrong because 2024 was the second season of the WPL, part of which was played at Bengaluru. The question is worth attention because papers often ask which earlier competition the Women's Premier League replaced, and the answer is the Women's T20 Challenge.

The correct answer is B. An athlete who genuinely needs a medicine that appears on the Prohibited List, such as an inhaler for asthma or insulin for diabetes, applies in advance to a panel of doctors, which may grant a Therapeutic Use Exemption limited to that substance, dose and period. Without it the same medicine would be an anti-doping rule violation, because the principle of strict liability makes an athlete answerable for whatever is found in the body. Option A is wrong because a reduction of a sanction turns on matters such as the substance being a specified one, prompt admission or substantial assistance, not on a TUE. Option C is wrong because missing tests is governed by the whereabouts rules, and three failures in a year are themselves a violation. Option D is wrong because the testing of the B sample is a procedural right and has nothing to do with an exemption.

The correct answer is C, 2022. Ultimate Kho Kho was launched in 2022 as the first franchise league for kho kho, and the Odisha Juggernauts won the inaugural season. The league introduced mats instead of mud courts, a dream run and attack and defence points, so that a traditional school-ground game could be televised. Option A is wrong because 2016 is the year the Indian Badminton League was renamed the Premier Badminton League and the year Premier Futsal was launched. Option B is wrong because 2019 is the year the Pro Volleyball League started, won in its first season by Chennai Spartans. Option D is wrong because 2024 was a later season rather than the launch. Kho kho and kabaddi questions usually come together, so remember 2014 for the Pro Kabaddi League and 2022 for Ultimate Kho Kho.

The correct answer is B, New Delhi. The National Dope Testing Laboratory, which analyses the samples that NADA collects, functions at New Delhi under the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, and its standing as a testing laboratory rests on accreditation by WADA. The National Anti-Doping Act, 2022 gives it a place in law as the principal dope testing laboratory of the country. Option A is wrong because Patiala is the home of the Netaji Subhas National Institute of Sports, the main coaching institute, which trains coaches rather than testing samples. Option C is wrong because Bengaluru has the Sports Authority of India centre at Kanteerava Stadium and many sports science facilities but not this laboratory. Option D is wrong because Kolkata, for all its sporting history, has no national dope testing laboratory. Keeping the pair Patiala for coaching and New Delhi for testing apart is the useful habit here.