Sports GK Quiz: Famous Sportspersons and Their Nicknames

The correct answer is A, Kapil Dev. The all-rounder from Chandigarh who played for Haryana was called the Haryana Hurricane for the pace of his bowling and the speed of his hitting, and he captained India to the World Cup of 1983. Option B is wrong because Virender Sehwag, who comes from Najafgarh in Delhi, is the Nawab of Najafgarh and also Multan ka Sultan, after his century at Multan. Option C is wrong because Chetan Sharma, although also a fast bowler from Haryana, carries no such nickname and is remembered chiefly for the first hat-trick in a World Cup. Option D is wrong because Yuvraj Singh, from Punjab, is called the Sixer King for his six sixes in an over, and Yuvi by his team-mates.

The correct answer is B, P. T. Usha. Payyoli is her village in the Kozhikode district of Kerala, and the word Express was added for the speed that made her Asia's leading woman sprinter in the nineteen-eighties; she is also called the Golden Girl of India. Option A is wrong because Anju Bobby George is a long jumper and the first Indian to win a medal at a World Athletics Championship, and she carries no such nickname. Option C is wrong because Shiny Wilson, also from Kerala and a middle-distance runner of the same period, is a frequent distractor in this question. Option D is wrong because Hima Das, the sprinter from Assam who won gold at the World Under-20 Championships, is called Dhing Express after her village, a nickname built on the same pattern and often swapped with this one.

The correct answer is A, Milkha Singh. The sprinter won gold in the four hundred metres at the Asian Games and at the Commonwealth Games and finished fourth in the Olympic final at Rome in 1960, and the name was given to him in Pakistan after he beat the local champion there. Option B is wrong because Fauja Singh was the marathon runner famous for competing at a very advanced age, known as the Turbaned Tornado, a different nickname of the same kind. Option C is wrong because Bishan Singh Bedi was a left-arm spinner and captain of the Indian cricket team. Option D is wrong because Balbir Singh Senior was the hockey centre forward who won three Olympic golds, and the trap in this question is to pick any well-known Sikh sportsperson instead of the sprinter.

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 A, Mary Kom. The boxer from Manipur, a multiple world amateur champion and an Olympic medallist from the London Games of 2012, was called Magnificent Mary by the international boxing federation, and the name has stayed with her. Option B is wrong because Nikhat Zareen, the world champion boxer from Telangana, has no such established nickname. Option C is wrong because Lovlina Borgohain, the Olympic medallist from Assam, is likewise known by her own name. Option D is wrong because Sarita Devi, also a boxer from Manipur of the same generation, is the closest distractor that an examiner can offer in this question, which is why the state alone is not enough to identify the answer. The safe way to answer a boxing nickname question is to pair the nickname with the decade: Magnificent Mary belongs to the boxer of the London Olympics, and the later world champions of the same weight classes are known simply by their own names.

The correct answer is C, Shoaib Akhtar. The Pakistani fast bowler came from Rawalpindi and bowled some of the quickest deliveries ever recorded, which earned him the name Rawalpindi Express, built on the same pattern as the Payyoli Express and the Chakda Express. Option A is wrong because Wasim Akram, the left-arm bowler who mastered movement with the old ball, is the Sultan of Swing. Option B is wrong because Waqar Younis, his partner in that attack, was known for reverse swing and toe-crushing yorkers but carries no train nickname. Option D is wrong because Imran Khan, the all-rounder who captained Pakistan to the World Cup of 1992, was called the Lion of Lahore, after a different city, which makes him the trap in this question.

The correct answer is B, the Black Pearl. Pele of Brazil, the only player to win three World Cups, was called Perola Negra, the Black Pearl, and also the King of Football. Option A is wrong because the Black Panther was Eusebio of Portugal, who was born in Mozambique and was the leading scorer of the 1966 World Cup. Option C is wrong because the Golden Boy, El Pibe de Oro, was Diego Maradona of Argentina, the captain who won the World Cup of 1986. Option D is wrong because the Flea, La Pulga, is Lionel Messi, named for his small build and quick turns. All four nicknames belong to footballers, which is what makes this question worth attempting carefully rather than quickly. A single line holds all four: Pearl for Brazil, Panther for Portugal, Golden Boy for Argentina and Flea for the modern Argentine, which turns a four-option question into a one-step recall.

The correct answer is A, Rahul Dravid. The Karnataka batter was called The Wall for the long innings with which he held up an end for India in Test cricket, and Jammy within his team. Option B is wrong because Cheteshwar Pujara, who played a similar role for a later generation, is often described as the new wall but is not the answer to the nickname question itself. Option C is wrong because Gundappa Viswanath, the wristy batter of the nineteen-seventies, carries no such name. Option D is wrong because Dilip Vengsarkar, famous for his centuries at Lord's, was called the Colonel. Fixing one nickname to one era is the way to clear this question, since every option here is a specialist Test batter for India.

The correct answer is B, Jhulan Goswami. The fast bowler comes from Chakdaha in the Nadia district of West Bengal, and her nickname joins that town to her pace, in the manner of the Payyoli Express and the Rawalpindi Express. Option A is wrong because Mithali Raj, the batter who captained India for many years, is called Lady Tendulkar, and these two names are regularly offered as each other's distractors because the two players were team-mates for so long. Option C is wrong because Harmanpreet Kaur, the batter remembered for her innings against Australia in the 2017 World Cup semi-final, has no such nickname. Option D is wrong because Smriti Mandhana is likewise known by her own name rather than by any nickname of this kind.

The correct answer is C, Rafael Nadal. The Spaniard's record on clay courts, above all at the French Open, earned him the name King of Clay, and he is also called Rafa. Option A is wrong because Roger Federer is the Fed Express and the Swiss Maestro, names drawn from his speed and his style rather than from one surface; his own best surface was grass. Option B is wrong because Novak Djokovic is called Nole or Djoker and is not identified with a single surface. Option D is wrong because Pete Sampras was Pistol Pete, for his serve, and in fact never won the French Open, which makes him the clearest wrong answer to a clay-court question of this kind. The rule of thumb for tennis nicknames is that a surface makes the king, a serve makes the gunman and speed makes the express, so clay points to Nadal, the serve to Sampras and the express to Federer.

The correct answer is B, Virender Sehwag. The opening batter came from Najafgarh on the outskirts of Delhi, and the title Nawab of Najafgarh was coined for him in play on the real royal title held by an earlier India captain; he is also called Multan ka Sultan for the triple century he scored at Multan. Option A is wrong because Gautam Gambhir, his opening partner for Delhi and India, carries no such nickname. Option C is wrong because Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi was the actual Nawab of Pataudi and was known as Tiger Pataudi, which is the royal title the Sehwag nickname plays upon. Option D is wrong because Bishan Singh Bedi, the left-arm spinner from Delhi, belongs to an earlier generation and to a different kind of fame.