Sports GK Mixed Quiz: Set 7

The correct answer is C. The Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports has made it clear that the Government of India has not declared any sport to be the national game of the country. Hockey is widely called the national game because of the eight Olympic gold medals it brought India, but that is a popular description and not an official status.

Option A is the usual belief and the reason this question is set; 1928 is the year of India's first Olympic hockey gold, not of any declaration. Option B is wrong because cricket, for all its popularity after the World Cup win of 1983, has never been given such a status either. Option D is wrong on the same ground; kabaddi is an old Indian game and has been part of the Asian Games since 1990, but it has not been declared the national game.

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 B, Flushing Meadows, New York. The US Open is played at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in the Flushing Meadows park of the New York borough of Queens, on hard courts, in the last week of August and the first of September. Its main court, Arthur Ashe Stadium, is the largest tennis stadium in the world.

Option A, Melbourne Park, is the home of the Australian Open, the first Major of the year, whose centre court is the Rod Laver Arena. Option C, the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, hosts the French Open on clay, and its main court is the Philippe Chatrier court. Option D, the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club at Wimbledon in London, hosts the grass court Championships. Learning the four venues as a set of pairs, tournament and city, answers both the venue questions and the surface questions at once.

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 D, disqualification. Badminton umpires use three cards, and the black one is the last of them: it removes the player or the pair from the match altogether, and the referee is informed. Option C, warning, describes the yellow card, which the umpire shows for a first offence such as delaying play or leaving the court without permission. Option B, fault, describes the red card, which punishes a repeated or a serious offence by awarding the rally, and therefore a point, to the opponent. Option A, suspension, is not a card decision at all; a ban from future tournaments is imposed later by the federation on a disciplinary report, not by the umpire on court. Learn the three cards as a rising ladder — yellow for a warning, red for a point to the other side, black for disqualification — because papers ask for any one of the three.

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 A, Javelin throw. Neeraj Chopra won the men's javelin throw at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, which were held in 2021, and that medal was India's first Olympic gold in athletics and its first individual gold since shooting in 2008. He went on to take the world title at Budapest in 2023.

Option B, badminton, is wrong because India's badminton medals at the Games have been a silver and bronzes, not a gold, and none of them belongs to Chopra. Option C, tennis, is wrong because India has won only a bronze in tennis at the Olympics, in 1996, and Chopra is not a tennis player. Option D, weight lifting, is wrong because Mirabai Chanu won a silver in weightlifting at the same Tokyo Games, which is why the option looks tempting to a candidate who remembers only the Games and not the event. Chopra is a thrower, and his event is the javelin.

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 D, Field hockey. A 16-yard hit is the free hit given to the defending team in field hockey when an attacker sends the ball over the back line without a goal being scored. The ball is placed in line with the point where it crossed the line, 16 yards or about 14.63 metres out from the inner edge of the back line, and a defender takes the hit while opponents stand at least five metres away. The same hit is awarded when an attacking player commits an offence inside the shooting circle. A is wrong because golf is measured in holes, pars and the yardage of fairways and has no such hit. B is wrong because lawn tennis uses terms such as deuce, ace, let and smash. C is wrong because cricket's restarts are the no-ball, the wide and a free hit of an entirely different kind. Exam tip: hockey terms - 16-yard hit, penalty corner, and the penalty stroke taken from 6.4 metres.

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 A, Golf. The Ryder Cup is a team golf tournament, played between teams representing the United States and Europe. It began in 1927 and is named after Samuel Ryder, the English seed merchant who donated the trophy. The event is held every two years, the venue alternating between American and European courses, and unlike most professional golf it is a match-play team contest in which no prize money is paid to the players. The women's equivalent is the Solheim Cup. B is wrong because table tennis has the Swaythling Cup and the Corbillon Cup. C is wrong because cricket's main trophies are the World Cup, the Ashes and the Ranji Trophy. D is wrong because hockey has the Azlan Shah Cup and, in India, the Dhyan Chand Trophy and the Rangaswamy Cup. Exam tip: link golf with the Ryder Cup, the Solheim Cup, the Walker Cup and the Presidents Cup.

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 D, Karnataka. Karnataka won the 2017-18 Vijay Hazare Trophy, beating Saurashtra in the final played in Delhi. The tournament is India's premier domestic limited-overs competition for state teams, run by the Board of Control for Cricket in India since 2002-03, and it is named after Vijay Hazare, the batsman who led India to its first Test victory, against England at Madras in 1952. Karnataka's Mayank Agarwal was the story of that season, scoring 723 runs, the highest total by any batsman in a single edition of the trophy. Option A is wrong because Uttar Pradesh did not reach the 2017-18 final. Option B is wrong because Kerala was knocked out before the final that season. Option C is wrong because Maharashtra also failed to reach the final; Karnataka's opponent was Saurashtra. Exam tip: Vijay Hazare Trophy is the one-day tournament, the Ranji Trophy the first-class one and the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy the Twenty20 one.

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, Table Tennis. The Corbillon Cup is the trophy of the women’s team event at the World Table Tennis Championships, and its companion, the Swaythling Cup, is the men’s team trophy. Option D, Badminton, is the distractor the setter counts on, because badminton has its own pair of team cups — the Thomas Cup for men and the Uber Cup for women — and candidates who remember only that cups exist in racket games mix the two sets. Option A, Golf, is wrong: golf’s team trophies are the Ryder Cup, the Presidents Cup and the Solheim Cup. Option B, Hockey, is wrong as well; Indian hockey is associated with the Dhyan Chand Trophy, the Rangaswami Cup and the Beighton Cup. Keep the four cups in two pairs, table tennis against badminton, and this family of questions becomes easy marks.

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, 42.195 km. A marathon is run over 42.195 kilometres, which is exactly 26 miles and 385 yards. The odd figure was fixed at the London Olympics of 1908, when the course was extended to finish in front of the royal box, and it became the official distance a few years later.

Option A, 40 km, is close to the distance of the earliest marathons of the 1890s but is not the standard today. Option C, 45 km, matches no athletics event at all. Option D, 50 km, was for many years the longer of the two Olympic race-walking distances, which is why it appears here as a distractor, but walking and the marathon are separate events. A half marathon, worth remembering with this, is 21.0975 kilometres, and the marathon is a road event, not a track event.

The correct answer is C, Golf. Birdie and eagle are scoring terms used in golf. Every hole on a golf course is given a par, the number of strokes a good player is expected to take on it. A birdie is a hole finished in one stroke under par and an eagle is two strokes under par. The same family of bird names continues with the albatross, or double eagle, which is three strokes under par. Scores above par have their own words: a bogey is one over par and a double bogey is two over. Since a lower score wins in golf, birdies and eagles mark good play. A standard course has 18 holes. A is wrong because basketball uses terms such as dunk, dribble and rebound. B is wrong because shooting uses bull's eye, range and sighter. D is wrong because boxing uses knockout, jab, hook and uppercut. Exam tip: albatross, eagle, birdie, par, bogey, double bogey, in that order.

The correct answer is A, Thomas Cup. Named after Sir George Thomas, an English player and administrator, it is the world men’s team championship in badminton and was first contested in 1948–49. India won it for the first time in 2022, beating Indonesia in the final at Bangkok. Option B, the Uber Cup, is the matching women’s team championship, first held in 1956–57 and named after the English player Betty Uber. Option C, the Swaythling Cup, belongs to a different game: it is the men’s team trophy in table tennis. Option D, the Sudirman Cup, is a badminton team event but a mixed one, contested by combined men’s and women’s teams since 1989 and named after the Indonesian administrator Dick Sudirman. Note the pattern: Thomas for men, Uber for women, Sudirman for mixed.

The correct answer is B, Milkha Singh. He earned the name in Pakistan after beating the home favourite at a meet in Lahore, and it stayed with him. He finished fourth in the 400 metres final at the 1960 Rome Olympics, won the 440 yards gold at the 1958 Cardiff Commonwealth Games and took two golds at the 1958 Asian Games.

Option A, Gurbachan Singh Randhawa, was a fine hurdler who came fifth in the 110 metres hurdles final at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, but he carried no such nickname. Option C, Sriram Singh, reached the 800 metres final at the 1976 Montreal Olympics and long held the national record in that event. Option D, Joginder Singh, is not an athlete remembered under that title. Learn the pair of nicknames together: Milkha Singh is the Flying Sikh and P. T. Usha the Payyoli Express.