International Sports Events Hosted by India: Years and Venues

The correct answer is C, New Delhi. The first Asian Games were held at the National Stadium in New Delhi in 1951, after Guru Dutt Sondhi of India proposed a games for the newly independent countries of Asia in place of the older Far Eastern Games. Eleven nations competed and India finished second in the medal table behind Japan. Option A, Tokyo, hosted the third Asian Games in 1958 and is the city most associated with the Summer Olympics of 1964 in Asia, not the first Asian Games. Option B, Manila, hosted the second edition in 1954, so it comes immediately after Delhi in the sequence and is the commonest wrong answer. Option D, Jakarta, hosted the fourth edition in 1962 and again in 2018 along with Palembang. Remember the opening order as Delhi 1951, Manila 1954, Tokyo 1958 and Jakarta 1962.

The correct answer is A, the 1982 Asian Games at New Delhi. Appu was the cheerful baby elephant created as the mascot of the ninth Asian Games, and the figure became so popular that an amusement park in Delhi was named after it. The same Games brought colour television to India and gave the capital the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium. Option B is wrong because the mascot of the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi was Shera, a tiger, with the slogan Come Out and Play. Option C is wrong because the mascot of the 2011 Cricket World Cup was Stumpy, a young elephant with a cricket bat, a different animal character from a different event, and the two elephants are often mixed up. Option D is wrong because the mascot of the 2017 FIFA Under-17 World Cup was Kheleo, a clouded leopard chosen to represent the North East.

The correct answer is C, the 19th Games in 2010. Delhi hosted the nineteenth Commonwealth Games in 2010, the first and so far the only time India has held them. Shera the tiger was the mascot, the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium held the ceremonies and the athletics, and India finished second in the medal table with 101 medals, including 38 gold. Option A is wrong because the seventeenth Games in 2002 were held at Manchester in England. Option B is wrong because the eighteenth Games in 2006 were held at Melbourne in Australia, where India finished fourth. Option D is wrong because the twentieth Games in 2014 were held at Glasgow in Scotland. Linking the edition number to the year is the safest way to answer: Manchester 2002, Melbourne 2006, Delhi 2010 and Glasgow 2014 run in a simple four year chain.

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, the Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai. India beat Sri Lanka in the final of the 2011 World Cup at the Wankhede, with Mahendra Singh Dhoni finishing the match with a six and Gautam Gambhir making the highest score of the innings. It was the first time a host country won the fifty over World Cup on its own soil. Option A, Eden Gardens in Kolkata, hosted the 1987 World Cup final and the final of the 2016 World Twenty20, which is why it is a convincing distractor. Option C, the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru, hosted league matches in 2011 but no final. Option D, Feroz Shah Kotla in Delhi, now renamed the Arun Jaitley Stadium, also hosted matches rather than the final. India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh were the three co-hosts of that edition.

The correct answer is C, England. England beat Spain in the final at the Salt Lake Stadium in Kolkata to win the 2017 Under-17 World Cup, the first FIFA tournament of any kind staged in India. The mascot was Kheleo, a clouded leopard, and matches were played at Kolkata, New Delhi, Guwahati, Margao, Kochi and Navi Mumbai. Option A, Spain, reached the final and lost it, which makes it the strongest distractor. Option B, Brazil, finished third in the tournament after losing in the semi-final, and is a tempting answer because of its record in senior football. Option D, India, took part only as the host, played its three group matches at New Delhi and did not advance; that appearance remains India's only one at a FIFA World Cup of any age group. India also hosted the Under-17 Women's World Cup in 2022.

The correct answer is B, Odisha. The 2018 Hockey World Cup was played at the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar, and the 2023 edition was shared between the Kalinga Stadium and the newly built Birsa Munda Stadium at Rourkela, both in Odisha. Belgium won in 2018 and Germany in 2023. The state also sponsors the Indian national hockey teams, which is why it appears so often in sports questions. Option A, Punjab, is the state that has produced the largest number of Indian hockey internationals but has not hosted a World Cup. Option C, Maharashtra, hosted the 1982 Hockey World Cup at Mumbai, so it belongs to the list of Indian hosts but to a different year. Option D, Jharkhand, has the Birsa Munda name in common with the Rourkela stadium and hosts major domestic and Asian hockey events at Ranchi, but the 2018 and 2023 World Cups were not held there.

The correct answer is A, Mahabalipuram near Chennai. The forty fourth Chess Olympiad was held in 2022 at Mahabalipuram in Tamil Nadu, the first time the event came to India and the first time it was held in Asia in several decades. The mascot was Thambi, a knight in the form of a boy, and the torch relay for the Olympiad started from New Delhi, a practice begun with this edition. Option B, Goa, hosts major chess tournaments and the national championships but not that Olympiad. Option C, Hyderabad, is the city of the only Afro-Asian Games, held in 2003, which is why it belongs in this chapter for a different reason. Option D, Bhubaneswar, is associated with hockey and athletics events rather than chess. Chennai is also the home city of Viswanathan Anand, India's first grandmaster, which helps fix the answer.

The correct answer is A, Hyderabad. The Afro-Asian Games were conceived to bring together the medal winners of Africa and Asia, and the single edition that was actually staged was held at Hyderabad in 2003, mainly at the Gachibowli Stadium. A second edition was planned but never held, so the event belongs to Indian sports history as a one-off. Option B, Pune, hosted the Commonwealth Youth Games in 2008, which is a different multi sport event and a common confusion. Option C, Jaipur, has hosted national games events and cricket but no continental games. Option D, Kochi, hosted the National Games in 1987 and matches of the 2017 FIFA Under-17 World Cup, so it also belongs in a list of Indian venues but not for the Afro-Asian Games. Pairing Hyderabad 2003 with Pune 2008 keeps the two events apart.

The correct answer is B, the Buddh International Circuit, Greater Noida. Built in Uttar Pradesh near Delhi, the Buddh International Circuit held the Indian Grand Prix in 2011, 2012 and 2013, after which the race was dropped from the calendar; Sebastian Vettel won all three editions. Option A, the Madras Motor Race Track near Chennai, is India's oldest permanent racing circuit and holds national and Asian championship rounds, but never a Formula One Grand Prix. Option C, the Kari Motor Speedway at Coimbatore, is a shorter circuit used for junior formula and karting events. Option D, a street circuit at Hyderabad, has been used for electric racing rather than Formula One. For the exam, remember Buddh International Circuit with Greater Noida in Uttar Pradesh and the three years 2011 to 2013.

The correct answer is A, the 10th Hockey World Cup at the Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium. New Delhi hosted the tenth edition of the Hockey World Cup in 2010 at the stadium named after Major Dhyan Chand, the same ground that had been built for the first Asian Games in 1951; Australia won that tournament. The next Indian edition, in 2018, moved to the Kalinga Stadium at Bhubaneswar. Option B pairs the right stadium with the wrong edition number and year, since the Kalinga Stadium came in 2018. Option C is wrong because the Salt Lake Stadium in Kolkata is a football ground and hosted the 2017 FIFA Under-17 World Cup final. Option D is wrong because the Wankhede is a cricket stadium; Mumbai's 1982 Hockey World Cup was played elsewhere in the city.