The terms 'Birdie' and 'Eagle' are used in which of the following sports/games?

The correct answer is A, Purma Banerjee. India marched behind its own flag at the Olympics for the first time at Antwerp in 1920, and the athlete Purma Banerjee carried it at the opening ceremony. That was India's first real team at the Games: six members, four athletes and two wrestlers, sent with the help of the industrialist Dorabji Tata, whose support also led to the founding of the Indian Olympic Association in 1927. Earlier, at Paris in 1900, India had been represented by Norman Pritchard competing alone. B is wrong because Dhyan Chand was the hockey great whose teams took gold in 1928, 1932 and 1936, but he was not the first flag bearer. C is wrong because Lal Shah Bokhari carried the flag later, at Los Angeles in 1932. D is wrong because the hockey player Zafar Iqbal was flag bearer at Los Angeles in 1984. Exam tip: 1920 Antwerp — India's first Olympic team, flag carried by Purma Banerjee.

The correct answer is A, 18 metres by 9 metres. A volleyball court is a rectangle 18 metres long and 9 metres wide, divided into two square halves of 9 metres by 9 metres by the centre line, above which the net is fixed at 2.43 metres for men and 2.24 metres for women. Option B is wrong because 28 metres by 15 metres is a basketball court under international rules. Option C is wrong because 13.4 metres by 6.1 metres is a badminton court for doubles. Option D is wrong because 23.77 metres by 8.23 metres is a tennis court for singles, the doubles width being 10.97 metres. Papers set this question by listing four correct court sizes and asking for one game, so learn each size with its game rather than as a loose number.

The correct answer is A, hockey. In field hockey a bully was the method of restarting play after certain stoppages: one player of each side stood facing the other over the ball and they tapped sticks and ground alternately before playing it. Modern rules restart with a free hit or a bully only in rare cases, but the term still appears in question papers as a hockey word. Option B is wrong because kabaddi uses raider, anti, cant, bonus line and lona, the last meaning that a whole side has been put out. Option C is wrong because volleyball uses service, spike, block and dig. Option D is wrong because baseball uses pitcher, batter, innings, home run and diamond. Bully, along with short corner and penalty stroke, is the set of hockey terms worth memorising.

The correct answer is C, 42.195 kilometres, that is 26 miles and 385 yards. The distance was fixed after the London Olympic Games of 1908, where the course was lengthened to finish in front of the royal box, and it has been the standard ever since. Option A is wrong because 40 kilometres is only the approximate figure people quote in conversation and is not the official distance. Option B is wrong because 41.195 kilometres changes the first figure while keeping the familiar decimal, which is the commonest distractor in this question. Option D is wrong because 45.195 kilometres is longer than any marathon course. A half marathon is exactly half of the standard distance, 21.0975 kilometres, and that figure is also asked. The full Olympic marathon is run on the road, and the men and women run the same distance, unlike most track events.

The correct answer is B, 40 millimetres. A table tennis ball is 40 millimetres across and weighs 2.7 grams, and it is made of plastic with a matt white or orange surface. Option A is wrong because 38 millimetres was the older size, used until the ball was enlarged at the start of the 2000s to slow the game down for television, so it is a historical figure rather than the present one. Option C and option D are wrong because 42 and 45 millimetres are simply larger round numbers offered as distractors and appear in no rule. Learn the ball with the table: the table is 2.74 metres long, 1.525 metres wide and 76 centimetres above the floor, and the net across it is 15.25 centimetres high. The older 38 millimetre ball also weighed less, at about 2.5 grams, which is why the two figures are asked together.