In which year did India win the Hockey World Cup?

The correct answer is C, Balbir Singh Dosanjh, the hockey centre forward known as Balbir Singh Sr. He won Olympic gold with India in 1948, 1952 and 1956, scored five goals in the 1952 final against the Netherlands, and in 1957 became the first sportsperson of any game to be given the Padma Shri, which opened the civilian honours to sport.

Option A, Manpreet Singh, is a much later player who captained the team to the bronze medal at the Tokyo Olympics in 2020. Option B, Milkha Singh, the athlete called the Flying Sikh, did receive the Padma Shri, but after Balbir Singh Sr and for athletics, not hockey. Option D, Dhanraj Pillay, was a celebrated forward of the 1990s and 2000s and was honoured much later still, so none of the three came first.

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 B, 1928. India played its first Olympic hockey tournament at the Amsterdam Games of 1928 and won the gold medal at that first attempt, with Jaipal Singh Munda as the captain and Dhyan Chand as the leading scorer. It was also India's first Olympic gold medal in any event.

Option A, 1920, is the year of the Antwerp Games, at which India took part in athletics and wrestling but not in hockey. Option C, 1932, is the Los Angeles Games, India's second gold, remembered for the 24–1 win over the United States. Option D, 1936, is the Berlin Games, the third gold in the row, where India beat Germany 8–1 in the final with Dhyan Chand as captain. All three of these are golds or Games in which India took part, which is what makes them plausible, but only Amsterdam was the first.

The correct answer is A, Major Dhyan Chand, who was born on 29 August 1905. National Sports Day is observed on his birthday every year, and it is the day on which the President presents the national sports awards, among them the Khel Ratna, the Arjuna Award and the Dronacharya Award. The highest of those honours now carries his name as the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award.

Option B, Balbir Singh Sr, was the great centre forward of the 1948, 1952 and 1956 teams, but no national day is tied to his birth. Option C, Milkha Singh, was an athlete who famously finished fourth in the 400 metres at the 1960 Rome Olympics. Option D, K. D. Jadhav, was the wrestler who won India's first individual Olympic medal, a bronze at Helsinki in 1952. None of the three is connected with 29 August.

The correct answer is A, Ajit Pal Singh, the centre half who captained India to the World Cup title at Kuala Lumpur in 1975. He had also played in the World Cups of 1971 and 1973 and was later given the Padma Shri for his services to the game.

Option B, Ashok Kumar, played in that final and scored the winning goal against Pakistan, but he was not the captain; he is remembered as the son of Dhyan Chand. Option C, Vasudevan Bhaskaran, captained the team that won the Olympic gold at Moscow in 1980, five years later. Option D, Kishan Lal, led India to the Olympic gold at London in 1948, the first won after independence, twenty seven years before this World Cup. A question of this kind usually mixes the captains of different titles, so the safe way is to learn the pairs together: 1948 London with Kishan Lal, 1975 World Cup with Ajit Pal Singh and 1980 Moscow with Vasudevan Bhaskaran.