Which of the following statements about the national game of India is correct?

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 C, 1975. India won the Hockey World Cup at Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia in 1975, beating Pakistan 2–1 in the final. Ashok Kumar, the son of Dhyan Chand, scored the winning goal and Ajit Pal Singh led the side. It remains India's only World Cup title in the game.

Option A, 1971, is the year of the first Hockey World Cup, played at Barcelona and won by Pakistan, with India finishing third. Option B, 1973, is the second edition at Amstelveen, where India reached the final and lost to the Netherlands on penalty strokes. Option D, 1980, is the year of the Moscow Olympics, where India won its eighth and so far last Olympic gold, and is the most common confusion in this question.