Uttar Pradesh Quiz: Sports, Stadiums and State Awards of UP

Dhyan Chand was born there on 29 August 1905, joined the army and rose to the rank of Major, and became the centre forward of the Indian teams that won three successive Olympic hockey gold medals.

The day marks the birth anniversary of Major Dhyan Chand, who was born on 29 August 1905 in Uttar Pradesh, and the national sports awards are conferred by the President on this day every year.

In 2021 the award for the most outstanding sporting performance was renamed the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award, so his name now attaches to two national honours, this one and the older Dhyan Chand Award for lifetime achievement.

Green Park stands on the bank of the Ganga at Kanpur and has staged Test cricket since 1952, which makes it the oldest international ground in the state and also the home ground of the state cricket association.

The Ekana stadium, named after Bharat Ratna Atal Bihari Vajpayee, stands at Gomti Nagar in Lucknow and is the largest and newest cricket ground of the state, used for international matches and for league cricket.

The circuit was built at Greater Noida, which lies in the Gautam Buddh Nagar district next to Delhi, and it held the Indian Grand Prix in 2011, 2012 and 2013, the first of them won by Sebastian Vettel.

Kunwar Digvijay Singh, called K. D. Singh Babu, came from Barabanki in Uttar Pradesh, won Olympic gold with the Indian hockey team at London in 1948 and at Helsinki in 1952, where he was the captain, and the Lucknow stadium carries his name.

Uttar Pradesh gives its highest sporting honour under two names, the Laxman Award for men and the Rani Laxmi Bai Award for women, the latter named after the queen of Jhansi, a city of the state; both carry a cash prize and a citation.

The Yash Bharti Samman, instituted in 1994, is the highest civilian honour of Uttar Pradesh and has been conferred on writers, artists, musicians, sportspersons and others for distinguished achievement, with a cash award.

The Indian Grand Prix was run for three seasons at the Buddh International Circuit at Greater Noida, beginning with the 2011 race won by Sebastian Vettel, after which the event was taken off the Formula One calendar.

Mohammed Shahid, celebrated for his dribbling and close stick work, came from Varanasi, was a member of the Indian hockey team that won the Olympic gold at Moscow in 1980, and received the Padma Shri in 1986 after the Arjuna Award earlier in the decade.

Sudha Singh belongs to the Raebareli district of Uttar Pradesh and won the gold medal in the 3000 metres steeplechase at the Asian Games held at Guangzhou in 2010, going on to represent India at the Olympic Games; she is the best known woman distance runner the state has produced.