P. T. Usha narrowly missed an Olympic bronze medal at the 1984 Los Angeles Games in which event?

The correct answer is B, Karnam Malleswari. She won the bronze medal in the sixty-nine kilogram class in weightlifting at the Sydney Olympics in 2000, the first Olympic medal by an Indian woman in any sport. Option A is wrong, although P. T. Usha came closest before her: at Los Angeles in 1984 she finished fourth in the four hundred metres hurdles, losing the bronze by one hundredth of a second. Option C is wrong because Mary Kom's Olympic bronze in boxing came at London in 2012, twelve years after Malleswari. Option D is wrong because Mirabai Chanu won her weightlifting silver at Tokyo in 2020; she is India's second woman weightlifting medallist, not the first. The pairing to remember is weightlifting with Sydney 2000 for the first, and weightlifting with Tokyo 2020 for the next.

The correct answer is B, Bachendri Pal, who reached the summit on 23 May 1984 with an Indian expedition and was honoured with the Padma Shri and later the Padma Bhushan. Option A is wrong because Santosh Yadav came later and is remembered for climbing Everest twice, in 1992 and 1993, the first woman in the world to do so. Option C is wrong because Premlata Agarwal, who climbed in 2011, is known as the oldest Indian woman to summit Everest at the time of her climb. Option D is wrong because Arunima Sinha, who climbed in 2013, is celebrated as the first woman amputee to summit Everest. All four names belong to the same story, so attach each to its own first: Pal the first Indian woman, Yadav the first twice, Agarwal the oldest and Sinha the first amputee.

The correct answer is A, long jump in 2003. Anju Bobby George won the bronze in the long jump at the World Athletics Championships in Paris in 2003, the first medal won by any Indian, man or woman, at those championships. Option B is wrong because she competed in the long jump, not the triple jump, although she began in the triple jump early in her career. Option C is wrong because the year is 2003; in 2005 she won the World Athletics Final, which is a different competition and often used as a distractor. Option D is wrong on both counts, since the event was the long jump and no Indian won a medal at the 2001 championships. Pair this with the Asian Games and Commonwealth Games medals she also won, and remember that her husband Robert Bobby George was her coach.

The correct answer is C, Sakshi Malik, who won the bronze in the fifty-eight kilogram freestyle category at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics in 2016, coming back from behind in the last seconds of her bout. Option A is wrong, although Geeta Phogat holds two other firsts: she was the first Indian woman wrestler to win a Commonwealth Games gold, at Delhi in 2010, and the first to qualify for the Olympic Games, in 2012. Option B is wrong because Vinesh Phogat is a Commonwealth and Asian Games gold medallist and a world championship medallist, but the Olympic first belongs to Sakshi Malik. Option D is wrong because Babita Kumari is a Commonwealth Games gold medallist without an Olympic medal. The safe rule is that for wrestling the Olympic first is Malik and the Commonwealth first is Geeta Phogat.

The correct answer is B, Mary Kom. She won the world amateur championship in 2002, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2010 and 2018, six titles in all, which earned her the name Magnificent Mary, and she added an Olympic bronze in the fifty-one kilogram class at London in 2012. Option A is wrong because Lovlina Borgohain is a world championship bronze medallist and the winner of an Olympic bronze at Tokyo in 2020, not a six-time world champion. Option C is wrong because Nikhat Zareen is a world champion but with a smaller number of titles. Option D is wrong because L. Sarita Devi won the world title in 2006 and several Asian titles, but one world championship, not six. The number six with the name Mary Kom is the fact the paper wants.