Sports GK Mixed Quiz: Set 5

The correct answer is A, England. The 1983 Cricket World Cup was hosted by England, and the final was played at Lord's in London.

India, led by Kapil Dev, beat the West Indies by 43 runs in that final on 25 June 1983, scoring only 183 and then bowling the holders out for 140. Mohinder Amarnath was Man of the Match. It was India's first World Cup title and the turning point that made one-day cricket a mass game in the country. England also hosted the first three editions, in 1975, 1979 and 1983, all played in white clothing with a red ball over sixty overs a side.

Option B is wrong because Australia first co-hosted in 1992, with New Zealand. Option C is wrong as the West Indies hosted in 2007. Option D is wrong because India first co-hosted in 1987.

Exam tip: 1975, 1979, 1983 in England; India won 1983 and 2011.

The correct answer is C, Manipur. M. C. Mary Kom was born in Kangathei village of Churachandpur district in Manipur.

Mary Kom is the only woman boxer to have won six world championship titles, and she is nicknamed Magnificent Mary. She took the bronze medal in the flyweight class at the London Olympics of 2012, the first Indian woman boxer to win an Olympic medal, and she has also won gold at the Asian Games of 2014 and the Commonwealth Games of 2018. She received the Arjuna Award, the Padma Shri, the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna and the Padma Vibhushan, and served as a nominated member of the Rajya Sabha.

Option A is wrong because Mizoram is best known in Indian sport for footballers. Option B is wrong because Assam is the home state of the boxer Shiva Thapa and the sprinter Hima Das. Option D is wrong because Meghalaya has produced no boxer of this record.

Exam tip: Mary Kom of Manipur, six world titles, bronze at London 2012, called Magnificent Mary.

The correct answer is C, Balbir Singh Dosanjh, the hockey centre forward known as Balbir Singh Sr. He won Olympic gold with India in 1948, 1952 and 1956, scored five goals in the 1952 final against the Netherlands, and in 1957 became the first sportsperson of any game to be given the Padma Shri, which opened the civilian honours to sport.

Option A, Manpreet Singh, is a much later player who captained the team to the bronze medal at the Tokyo Olympics in 2020. Option B, Milkha Singh, the athlete called the Flying Sikh, did receive the Padma Shri, but after Balbir Singh Sr and for athletics, not hockey. Option D, Dhanraj Pillay, was a celebrated forward of the 1990s and 2000s and was honoured much later still, so none of the three came first.

The correct answer is C, Bhalchandra Bhaskar Bhagwat. The Dronacharya Award, India's honour for coaches who produce outstanding sportspersons, was given for the first time in 1985, and Bhalchandra Bhaskar Bhagwat, a wrestling coach, was among the first three to receive it, along with O.M. Nambiar in athletics and Om Prakash Bhardwaj in boxing. The award is named after Dronacharya, the teacher of the Pandavas and the Kauravas in the Mahabharata, and it carries a bronze statuette of Dronacharya, a certificate and a cash prize. It is given in two categories, regular and lifetime. Option A is wrong because Hansa Sharma was not among the first recipients. Option B is wrong because Karan Singh did not receive the award in 1985. Option D is wrong because Hawa Singh, the boxer, was honoured as a coach much later, not in the first list. Exam tip: the Dronacharya Award began in 1985, the Arjuna Award in 1961 and the Khel Ratna in 1991-92.

The correct answer is B, Wimbledon. The Championships were first played at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in London in 1877, which makes Wimbledon the oldest tennis tournament in the world. That first edition had only a gentlemen's singles event; the ladies' singles was added in 1884.

Option A, the US Open, began in 1881 as the US National Championship, four years after Wimbledon, and is the second oldest of the four. Option C, the French Open, dates from 1891 but stayed a national event, open only to members of French clubs, until 1925, so it is often shown as the youngest in international terms while still older than the Australian event. Option D, the Australian Open, was first held in 1905 as the Australasian Championships and is the newest of the four. Fixing the order 1877, 1881, 1891, 1905 in memory settles every question of this kind.

The correct answer is B, Fencing. Chadalavada Anandha Sundhararaman Bhavani Devi is an Indian fencer from Chennai who competes in the sabre event. She became the first Indian fencer to qualify for the Olympic Games, at Tokyo in 2021, and won her opening bout there. She has taken gold at the Commonwealth Fencing Championship and a medal at the Asian Fencing Championship, and she trains with support from the Target Olympic Podium Scheme. Fencing is a sword-fighting sport with three weapons - foil, epee and sabre - fought on a strip called a piste, where hits are recorded electronically. Option A is wrong because rowing is a water sport, in which India has been represented by athletes such as Bajrang Lal Takhar. Option C is wrong because Bhavani Devi has never been a boxer. Option D is wrong because she is not a wrestler. Exam tip: Bhavani Devi is a fencer in the sabre event and the first Indian fencer at the Olympics.

The correct answer is C, Hockey. Back-stick is a foul in field hockey, called when a player strikes the ball with the rounded back of the stick.

A hockey stick has one flat face and one rounded face, and only the flat face may touch the ball. Using the rounded side gives the offending side a penalty and the other team a free hit. Other terms a paper setter may pair with hockey are bully, dribble, scoop, push-in, short corner, penalty stroke, tackle and hat-trick.

A is wrong: basketball terms include dribble, pivot, dunk, lay-up and free throw. B is wrong: badminton terms include smash, drop shot, deuce, let and service court. D is wrong: volleyball terms include spike, block, serve, dig and libero.

Exam tip: Back-stick, bully, scoop and short corner all belong to hockey; pivot and dunk to basketball.

The correct answer is A, Badminton. The Sudirman Cup is the world mixed team championship of badminton, organised by the Badminton World Federation (BWF). It was first held in 1989 in Jakarta and is named after Dick Sudirman, the founder of the Badminton Association of Indonesia. Each tie has five matches, men's singles, women's singles, men's doubles, women's doubles and mixed doubles, so a country needs strong men and women players to win. It is held every two years. The other two team trophies of badminton are the Thomas Cup for men and the Uber Cup for women. B is wrong because baseball's top events include the World Series in the United States and the World Baseball Classic. C is wrong because volleyball has the FIVB World Championship and the Volleyball Nations League. D is wrong because basketball's world event is the FIBA World Cup, and the William Jones Cup is another basketball trophy. Exam tip: badminton team trophies, Thomas Cup (men), Uber Cup (women), Sudirman Cup (mixed).

The correct answer is C, eight. India won the Olympic hockey gold in 1928, 1932, 1936, 1948, 1952, 1956, 1964 and 1980, which is a record in the game. Along with these came a silver in 1960 and bronze medals in 1968, 1972 and 2020, so hockey has given India more Olympic medals than any other sport.

Option A, six, is the number of golds in the unbroken run from 1928 to 1956, the golden era, and is the favourite distractor because that run is quoted so often. Option B, seven, would leave out either the Tokyo gold of 1964 or the Moscow gold of 1980. Option D, nine, counts one medal too many, usually by adding the 1960 Rome final, which India lost to Pakistan and in which it therefore won the silver.

The correct answer is C, Football. All three are Indian football tournaments. The Durand Cup, first played in 1888 and named after Sir Mortimer Durand, then Foreign Secretary of British India, is Asia's oldest football tournament and is still organised with the help of the armed forces. The Santosh Trophy is the national football championship for state teams, first held in 1941. The Rovers Cup was a famous club tournament played in Mumbai from 1891. Papers often mix these with trophies from other sports, so learn them in sets. A is wrong because hockey's well-known Indian trophies include the Beighton Cup and the Aga Khan Cup. B is wrong because cricket's domestic trophies are the Ranji Trophy, Duleep Trophy, Irani Cup and Vijay Hazare Trophy. D is wrong because badminton's world team events are the Thomas Cup for men, the Uber Cup for women and the Sudirman Cup for mixed teams. Exam tip: Durand, Santosh, Rovers, Federation Cup = football; Ranji, Duleep, Irani = cricket; Beighton, Aga Khan = hockey.

The correct answer is C, French Open. Played at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris in May and June, it is the only Major contested on clay, and its red crushed brick surface slows the ball and makes it bounce high, so rallies are long and a patient baseline player is favoured.

Option A, Wimbledon, is the only Major played on grass, the fastest of the surfaces, where the ball skids low and the serve counts for far more. Option B, the Australian Open, and option D, the US Open, are both played on hard courts, an acrylic layer over concrete or asphalt whose speed sits between grass and clay. Because the French Open falls immediately before Wimbledon in the calendar, candidates often swap the two surfaces in a hurry, so it helps to remember the single sentence: only Wimbledon is grass and only the French Open is clay.

The correct answer is B, twelve yards. The penalty mark in football is twelve yards, about eleven metres, from the midpoint of the goal line, and a penalty kick is taken from that spot with only the goalkeeper defending. This measurement is among the handful of numbers from the laws of the game that examiners ask directly.

Option A, ten yards, is the distance at which defending players must stand back from the ball at a free kick, so it is a real number from the same game but the wrong one here. Option C, fifteen yards, corresponds to nothing fixed in the laws and is placed only as a plausible distractor. Option D, eighteen yards, is the depth of the penalty area itself, which extends eighteen yards from the goal line and is often loosely called the eighteen yard box, which is the source of the confusion.

The correct answer is B, 1928. India played its first Olympic hockey tournament at the Amsterdam Games of 1928 and won the gold medal at that first attempt, with Jaipal Singh Munda as the captain and Dhyan Chand as the leading scorer. It was also India's first Olympic gold medal in any event.

Option A, 1920, is the year of the Antwerp Games, at which India took part in athletics and wrestling but not in hockey. Option C, 1932, is the Los Angeles Games, India's second gold, remembered for the 24–1 win over the United States. Option D, 1936, is the Berlin Games, the third gold in the row, where India beat Germany 8–1 in the final with Dhyan Chand as captain. All three of these are golds or Games in which India took part, which is what makes them plausible, but only Amsterdam was the first.

The correct answer is A, Lausanne in Switzerland. The International Olympic Committee moved its headquarters there during the First World War and has remained in the city since, which is why Lausanne is also called the Olympic Capital and houses the Olympic Museum.

Option B, Geneva, is the seat of many United Nations bodies, the World Health Organisation and the International Committee of the Red Cross, so students often place any international body there by habit. Option C, Zurich, is the headquarters of the international football federation, which is a common source of confusion in sports questions. Option D, Paris, is where the IOC was founded in 1894 at the Sorbonne, but it was never the permanent seat of the organisation. Separate the two facts clearly: founded at Paris, headquartered at Lausanne.

The correct answer is B, Venus Rosewater Dish. The ladies' singles champion at Wimbledon receives a sterling silver salver, a flat dish rather than a cup, decorated with figures from classical mythology, and it has been awarded since 1886. The men's champion, by contrast, lifts the Gentlemen's Singles Trophy, a gilded silver cup.

Option A, the Daphne Akhurst Memorial Cup, goes to the women's singles champion at the Australian Open and is named after a five time Australian champion of the 1920s. Option C, the Coupe Suzanne Lenglen, is the French Open women's trophy, named after the great French player of the 1920s. Option D, the Norman Brookes Challenge Cup, is the Australian Open men's trophy. Since each Major has a separate name for its men's and its women's prize, the safest way to learn them is as four pairs rather than as eight separate names.

The correct answer is C, M. S. Dhoni. India beat Sri Lanka in the final at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on 2 April 2011, and Dhoni, who finished the chase himself, was named player of the match; Yuvraj Singh was player of the tournament. The win made India the first country to lift the World Cup in a final played at home.

Option A, Rahul Dravid, captained India in the 2007 edition, in which the team went out in the group stage. Option B, Virat Kohli, played in the 2011 side as a young batsman but captained India only later, and never in a World Cup final. Option D, Sourav Ganguly, led India to the 2003 final in Johannesburg, where Australia won. Dhoni is also the captain who won the first T20 World Cup in 2007, which is why his name appears in two separate questions from this chapter.

The correct answer is A, Major Dhyan Chand, who was born on 29 August 1905. National Sports Day is observed on his birthday every year, and it is the day on which the President presents the national sports awards, among them the Khel Ratna, the Arjuna Award and the Dronacharya Award. The highest of those honours now carries his name as the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award.

Option B, Balbir Singh Sr, was the great centre forward of the 1948, 1952 and 1956 teams, but no national day is tied to his birth. Option C, Milkha Singh, was an athlete who famously finished fourth in the 400 metres at the 1960 Rome Olympics. Option D, K. D. Jadhav, was the wrestler who won India's first individual Olympic medal, a bronze at Helsinki in 1952. None of the three is connected with 29 August.

The correct answer is B, French Open. The Coupe des Mousquetaires, or Musketeers' Cup, is handed to the men's singles winner at Roland Garros. It is named after the four French players, Jean Borotra, Jacques Brugnon, Henri Cochet and Rene Lacoste, who were nicknamed the Four Musketeers and who carried French tennis through the 1920s.

Option A, the US Open, gives its champions a trophy known simply as the US Open trophy and has no separate historical name of this kind. Option C, Wimbledon, awards the Gentlemen's Singles Trophy, a gilded silver cup, and the Venus Rosewater Dish to the women. Option D, the Australian Open, awards the Norman Brookes Challenge Cup to the men. The French names in the options are the giveaway: both French Open trophies carry French names, the Coupe des Mousquetaires and the Coupe Suzanne Lenglen.

The correct answer is C, 1975. India won the Hockey World Cup at Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia in 1975, beating Pakistan 2–1 in the final. Ashok Kumar, the son of Dhyan Chand, scored the winning goal and Ajit Pal Singh led the side. It remains India's only World Cup title in the game.

Option A, 1971, is the year of the first Hockey World Cup, played at Barcelona and won by Pakistan, with India finishing third. Option B, 1973, is the second edition at Amstelveen, where India reached the final and lost to the Netherlands on penalty strokes. Option D, 1980, is the year of the Moscow Olympics, where India won its eighth and so far last Olympic gold, and is the most common confusion in this question.

The correct answer is C, Mahesh Bhupathi. He won the mixed doubles title at the 1997 French Open partnering Rika Hiraki of Japan, and that was the first Grand Slam title of any kind won by an Indian. Two years later, with Leander Paes, he won the men's doubles at both the French Open and Wimbledon in 1999.

Option A, Leander Paes, went on to win many more Major titles than Bhupathi in men's and mixed doubles and is the better known name, which is exactly why the question is set; his first Major came after Bhupathi's. Option B, Vijay Amritraj, reached the quarter-finals at Wimbledon and the US Open in the 1970s and was a Davis Cup mainstay, but never won a Major. Option D, Ramanathan Krishnan, reached the Wimbledon singles semi-final in 1960 and 1961, the best singles run by an Indian at a Major, but again without a title. No Indian has yet won a Grand Slam singles title.