Wrestling, Boxing and Shooting: Rules and Medallists

Wrestling, boxing and shooting are the three combat and precision sports that have given India most of its Olympic medals, so the static General Knowledge papers of SSC, Railway and State exams return to them again and again. All three are judged differently: a wrestler wins by pinning or out-pointing an opponent on a mat, a boxer by landing scoring punches inside a roped square, and a shooter by placing pellets or bullets nearest the centre of a paper or electronic target. This chapter gathers the rules, the terms, the governing bodies and the Indian medallists in one place.

Wrestling: styles, mat and rules

Wrestling is the oldest of the three and India's traditional kushti grew from it. The world body is United World Wrestling, which was known as FILA until 2014 and has its headquarters at Corsier-sur-Vevey in Switzerland; the national body is the Wrestling Federation of India. Two styles are contested at the Olympic Games. In freestyle wrestling the whole body may be held and the legs may be used to attack. In Greco-Roman wrestling no hold below the waist is allowed and the legs may not be used actively, so the sport becomes a contest of upper-body strength and throws.

A bout is fought on a circular mat nine metres across and lasts two periods of three minutes with a thirty-second break. A wrestler wins at once by a fall, that is by pinning both the opponent's shoulders to the mat, or by technical superiority on a lead of ten points in freestyle and eight points in Greco-Roman; otherwise the higher score at the end decides. Common terms are takedown, fall, half nelson, gut wrench and suplex, while the Indian akhara adds dhobi pachhad and dhak. The old professional titles Rustam-e-Hind, Hind Kesari and Bharat Kesari belong to this sport, and Gama Pehlwan, honoured as Rustam-e-Zamana, remains its most famous Indian name. The coach Guru Hanuman, who received the Dronacharya Award and the Padma Shri, trained generations of wrestlers in Delhi.

Boxing: the ring, rounds and terms

Boxing is fought with padded gloves under the code first drawn up as the Marquess of Queensberry rules in 1867, which introduced the three-minute round, the ten-second count and the ban on wrestling holds. The ring, despite its name, is a square platform, and at the Olympic Games its sides measure about 6.1 metres inside the ropes. An elite bout, for men and for women alike, is of three rounds of three minutes each with a minute of rest between them, and a referee inside the ring is helped by judges who score the scoring blows.

A contest can end in several ways. A knockout, shortened to KO, happens when a boxer cannot rise before the count of ten. A technical knockout, or TKO, is declared when the referee or the corner stops the bout though the boxer is still standing. Other terms an examiner may pick are jab, hook, uppercut, clinch, sparring, southpaw for a left-handed stance, and below the belt for an illegal low punch. The national federation is the Boxing Federation of India. The best known name in world boxing remains Muhammad Ali, born Cassius Clay, who won the light heavyweight gold at the Rome Olympics of 1960.

Shooting: events and equipment

Shooting is governed by the International Shooting Sport Federation, whose headquarters are in Munich, Germany, and in India by the National Rifle Association of India. Events fall into three families. Rifle events include the 10 metre air rifle and the 50 metre rifle in three positions, which are prone, standing and kneeling. Pistol events include the 10 metre air pistol and the 25 metre rapid fire pistol. Shotgun events are fired at clay targets flung into the air and include trap, double trap and skeet. Air rifle and air pistol are shot at 10 metres with decimal scoring, in which the innermost ring of an air rifle target can be worth as much as 10.9 points.

Indian medallists to remember

Other names that appear in question papers are Yogeshwar Dutt, bronze in wrestling at London 2012; Ravi Kumar Dahiya, silver, and Bajrang Punia, bronze, in wrestling at Tokyo 2020; Gagan Narang, bronze in the 10 metre air rifle, and Vijay Kumar, silver in the 25 metre rapid fire pistol, both at London 2012; Lovlina Borgohain, bronze in boxing at Tokyo 2020; and Swapnil Kusale, bronze in the 50 metre rifle three positions at Paris 2024. Nikhat Zareen and Jaspal Rana are frequently asked for their world and Asian titles respectively.

Awards and terms in brief

Athletes from these sports have received the country's highest sporting honours, the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award for outstanding performance and the Arjuna Award for consistency, while their coaches receive the Dronacharya Award. Mary Kom has been honoured with the Padma Vibhushan. A term list worth memorising runs as follows: fall, takedown and half nelson belong to wrestling; jab, hook, uppercut, clinch, southpaw and below the belt belong to boxing; and bullseye, sighter, prone and skeet belong to shooting.