Sports and Games for CUET General Aptitude

AnswerC · Five

1. The Olympic symbol has five interlocking rings, in blue, yellow, black, green and red on a white ground.

2. Pierre de Coubertin designed it in 1913; the rings stand for the union of the five inhabited continents.

AnswerA · Tokyo

1. The Tokyo 2020 Games were postponed because of the COVID-19 pandemic and held in the summer of 2021, keeping the name Tokyo 2020.

2. Rio de Janeiro hosted in 2016 and Paris in 2024.

AnswerB · Javelin throw

1. Neeraj Chopra won the men's javelin throw at Tokyo with a best throw of 87.58 m.

2. It was India's second individual Olympic gold, after Abhinav Bindra's in shooting in 2008.

AnswerC · the four-year interval between Games

1. An Olympiad is the four-year period, not the event held at its end.

2. That is why the modern Games are numbered by Olympiad, and why an Olympiad still passes even when its Games are not held.

3. The 1916, 1940 and 1944 Games were cancelled for war, yet the numbering carried on, which only makes sense if the number counts intervals.

AnswerD · Olympia

1. The Games were held at the sanctuary of Olympia, in the north-western Peloponnese.

2. They were a religious festival built around an altar to Zeus, and the victory wreaths were cut from olive trees on the site.

3. Athens hosted the first modern Games in 1896, which is the reason it is offered here.

AnswerA · Athens

1. The first modern Games were held at Athens in 1896.

2. Greece was chosen deliberately, for the link to the ancient Games.

3. Paris hosted the second, in 1900, which is why it is the usual distractor.

AnswerD · Citius, Altius, Fortius – Communiter

1. The motto is Citius, Altius, Fortius — faster, higher, stronger.

2. The word Communiter, meaning together, was added to it in 2021.

3. The other phrases are Latin mottoes belonging to other institutions entirely.

AnswerC · They could neither compete nor attend, though a woman could win as a chariot owner

1. Women could neither compete in the Games nor attend them.

2. The victor in a chariot race, however, was the owner of the chariot rather than its driver, and anyone could own a chariot.

3. Kyniska, daughter of a Spartan king, took victory wreaths that way in 396 BC and 392 BC.

AnswerD · New Delhi

1. New Delhi hosted the 19th Commonwealth Games in October 2010, the first time India had hosted them.

2. Hyderabad had hosted the Afro-Asian Games in 2003, a different event.

AnswerB · Hangzhou

1. The 19th Asian Games were held at Hangzhou, China, in 2023 after a year's postponement.

2. India won 107 medals there, its best tally at the Asian Games.

3. Jakarta and Palembang hosted the previous edition in 2018.

AnswerB · New Delhi

1. The first Asian Games were held at New Delhi in 1951.

2. India hosted them again in 1982, which was the ninth edition.

3. That makes New Delhi both the first host city and a repeat host, and either fact can be asked.

AnswerD · carry forward the legacy of the 1982 Asian Games held at New Delhi

1. SAI was set up in 1984, the year after the ninth Asian Games at New Delhi.

2. Its original task was to carry forward that legacy, including running the stadia built for those Games.

3. The Indian Olympic Association still exists and is a separate body, so SAI did not replace it.

AnswerD · the member states and territories of the Commonwealth

1. The Games are open to the member states and territories of the Commonwealth.

2. That includes territories which are not independent states, so the number of teams exceeds the number of member countries.

3. It is a smaller and different field from the Olympics, which is why medal counts from the two are not comparable.

AnswerB · every four years

1. Both are held every four years.

2. The Asian Games fall in the even years between Olympic years, and the Commonwealth Games in the same year as the Asian Games.

3. Postponements have shifted particular editions, but the four-year cycle is the rule.

AnswerC · The Asian Games

1. Kabaddi has been a medal sport at the Asian Games for decades and India has dominated it.

2. It is not an Olympic sport.

3. The Commonwealth Games programme is drawn largely from the Olympic sports plus a few others such as lawn bowls and netball, and kabaddi is not among them.

AnswerD · shooting

1. Avani Lekhara won the 10 m air rifle standing SH1 event at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics.

2. She won the same event again at Paris in 2024.

AnswerC · the Greek preposition meaning 'beside', since the Games run parallel to the Olympics

1. The name is formed from the Greek preposition para, meaning beside or alongside.

2. The Paralympic Games run parallel to the Olympic Games, in the same host city and in the same year.

3. The link to paraplegia is a common assumption, and the movement did begin with spinal injuries, but the Games now cover a far wider range of impairments and the name is not derived from that word.

AnswerC · in the same year and the same host city as the Olympics

1. The Paralympics are held in the same year as the Olympics and in the same host city.

2. They follow the Olympic Games by a few weeks, using the same venues.

3. The host city commits to both when it is awarded the Games.

AnswerD · grouping athletes by the degree of impairment so that competition is fair

1. Classification groups athletes by how far their impairment affects performance in that particular sport.

2. It is why event names carry codes such as T44 or S9: the letter is the discipline and the number is the class.

3. Without it, the athlete with the least impairment would win almost automatically, and the competition would measure impairment rather than ability.

AnswerD · the International Paralympic Committee

1. The International Paralympic Committee governs the Paralympic Games.

2. It is a separate organisation from the International Olympic Committee, with its own membership and its own governance.

3. The two work together closely, which is what produces the same-city, same-year arrangement, but neither is part of the other.

AnswerA · swimming

1. Murlikant Petkar, a soldier disabled in the 1965 war, won the 50 m freestyle swimming event at Heidelberg in 1972 in a world-record time.

2. He had been a boxer before his injury, which is why boxing is offered here.

3. He received the Padma Shri in 2018.

AnswerD · played by athletes with visual impairment, using a ball containing bells

1. Goalball is played by athletes with visual impairment.

2. The ball contains bells so that it can be tracked by sound, and all players wear eyeshades so that the degree of remaining sight does not matter.

3. It has no Olympic counterpart: it was devised for para sport rather than adapted from an existing game.

AnswerC · The Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna

1. The Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna is the highest national sports award, given for the most outstanding performance over four years.

2. The Arjuna Award ranks below it, and the Dronacharya Award is for coaches.

AnswerA · Major Dhyan Chand

1. Hockey player Dhyan Chand, who won Olympic gold with India in 1928, 1932 and 1936, was born on 29 August 1905.

2. The national sports awards are traditionally presented on or around this day.

AnswerA · The Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award

1. The award was instituted as the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award.

2. It was renamed the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award on 6 August 2021.

3. The other three are separate awards that were not renamed, and each has its own criterion.

AnswerA · coaches

1. The Dronacharya Award goes to coaches, for outstanding and meritorious work on a consistent basis.

2. The criterion is explicitly about enabling sportspersons to excel in international events, so it is measured by what the coach's athletes achieve.

3. The name is the clue: Dronacharya is the teacher of the Mahabharata.

AnswerB · The Arjuna requires good performance over four years together with leadership, sportsmanship and discipline

1. Both awards look at performance over the previous four years, so the window is not the difference.

2. The Khel Ratna is for spectacular and most outstanding performance; the Arjuna is for good performance.

3. The Arjuna adds an explicit requirement of leadership, sportsmanship and a sense of discipline, which the Khel Ratna criterion does not state.

AnswerC · lifetime contribution, including promotion of sport after retirement

1. The Dhyan Chand Award is the lifetime-achievement honour.

2. It recognises those who contributed by their own performance and who continue to promote sport after retiring from active competition.

3. Since 2021 the Khel Ratna also carries his name, which is why two quite different awards can both be described as the Dhyan Chand award.

AnswerC · the top performing university in the Khelo India University Games

1. The MAKA Trophy goes to the overall top performing university in the Khelo India University Games.

2. It is awarded to an institution rather than to an individual, which is unusual among the national sports awards.

3. The Rashtriya Khel Protsahan Puraskar is the other award that goes to an entity, in its case to organisations that promote sport.

AnswerD · football

1. FIFA, the Fédération Internationale de Football Association, was founded in Paris in 1904 and is based in Zurich.

2. It runs the men's and women's World Cups.

AnswerC · FIH

1. FIH stands for Fédération Internationale de Hockey, the International Hockey Federation.

2. FIDE governs chess, FIBA basketball and FIVB volleyball.

AnswerC · World Athletics

1. Athletics is governed by World Athletics, which was known as the IAAF until 2019.

2. FIFA governs football and the UCI governs cycling.

3. Swimming's body, long called FINA, is now World Aquatics — one of several federations that have renamed themselves in recent years.

AnswerB · The ICC

1. The International Cricket Council governs the international game and runs the World Cups.

2. The BCCI and the ECB are national boards, for India and for England and Wales.

3. The MCC is a private club that owns Lord's, and it still owns and revises the Laws of Cricket — which is a real role, but not governance of the international game.

AnswerA · chess

1. FIDE, the Fédération Internationale des Échecs, is the international chess federation.

2. Hockey is governed by the International Hockey Federation, usually written FIH.

3. The acronyms are French because many of these federations were founded in French-speaking Europe.

AnswerC · an independent foundation funded jointly by the sports movement and governments

1. WADA is an independent foundation, funded jointly by the Olympic movement and by governments.

2. That joint funding is deliberate: an anti-doping body controlled by either side alone would not be credible to the other.

3. It maintains the World Anti-Doping Code and the prohibited list, which national anti-doping organisations then apply.

AnswerB · Lausanne

1. The IOC moved to Lausanne, Switzerland, in 1915, and the city calls itself the Olympic capital.

2. It was founded in Paris in 1894 by Pierre de Coubertin, which is why Paris is the tempting option.

AnswerA · the Indian Olympic Association

1. The Indian Olympic Association is India's National Olympic Committee, and entering the contingent is its function.

2. SAI is a government body concerned with training, infrastructure and schemes.

3. The national federations select athletes within their own sports, but the contingent is entered by the Olympic association.

AnswerB · grass

1. Wimbledon, first held in 1877 in London, is the only Grand Slam still played on grass.

2. The French Open is on clay, and the Australian and US Opens on hard courts.

AnswerA · football

1. The Durand Cup began in 1888 in the Shimla hills, first played at Dagshai, and is Asia's oldest football tournament.

2. It is named after Mortimer Durand, then Foreign Secretary of British India, and is organised with the Indian Army.

AnswerC · Every four years

1. The World Cup has been held every four years since 1930, except in 1942 and 1946, when the Second World War stopped it.

2. It falls in the even years between Summer Olympic Games.

AnswerA · cricket

1. The Ranji Trophy is India's premier domestic first-class cricket competition, contested between state teams.

2. It is named after Ranjitsinhji, who played for England and is one of the great batsmen of the early game.

3. The Duleep Trophy and the Irani Cup are the other domestic cricket competitions most often named alongside it.

AnswerA · football

1. The Santosh Trophy is the national football championship, played between states and other units.

2. Indian hockey's equivalents include the Agha Khan Cup and the Beighton Cup.

3. The trophies that get confused are the ones from the sports with the longest histories in India, which is why football and hockey are offered against each other.

AnswerB · tennis

1. The Davis Cup is the men's international team competition in tennis.

2. The women's equivalent is the Billie Jean King Cup, formerly the Fed Cup.

3. Golf's team competition between Europe and the United States is the Ryder Cup, which is the trophy most often confused with it.

AnswerD · the men's and women's world team championships respectively

1. The Thomas Cup is the men's world team championship and the Uber Cup the women's.

2. Both are team events, not individual ones.

3. India won the Thomas Cup for the first time in 2022, which is the fact usually attached to it in Indian material.

AnswerA · The French Open

1. The French Open, at Roland-Garros, is the clay-court Grand Slam.

2. Wimbledon is the grass one, and both the Australian and the US Opens are played on hard courts.

3. The surface changes how the game is played, which is why winning on all of them is treated as a distinct achievement.

AnswerD · chess

1. Checkmate ends a game of chess: the king is attacked and has no legal way to escape.

2. The word comes from the Persian 'shah mat', meaning 'the king is helpless'.

AnswerC · taking wickets with three consecutive deliveries

1. A hat-trick is three wickets off three consecutive balls by the same bowler, even if they are spread over two overs.

2. The word is used in other sports too, for example for three goals by one player in a football match.

AnswerB · one stroke under par

1. Par is the number of strokes an expert is expected to need. A birdie is one fewer, an eagle two fewer, and a bogey one more.

2. A hole in one is a single stroke from the tee into the cup.

AnswerA · hockey

1. The bully was hockey's method of restarting play, with two opponents tapping sticks over the ball.

2. It has largely been replaced in the modern game, but the word survives in question papers and in older writing.

3. Polo's restart is the throw-in, which is why polo is offered against it.

AnswerB · tennis

1. Love is tennis's word for a score of zero.

2. Cricket's word for a batter dismissed without scoring is a duck.

3. Golf scores relative to par and has no equivalent term.

AnswerB · Test cricket

1. Test cricket is the longest format, played over five days with two innings a side.

2. A One Day International is fifty overs a side in a single day, and a Twenty20 twenty overs a side.

3. The Hundred is a domestic competition in England rather than an international format.

AnswerD · an athlete has left the blocks before the starting signal

1. A false start is leaving the blocks before the starting signal.

2. It is judged by sensors in the blocks, because human reaction cannot be faster than a set threshold after the gun.

3. In current sprint rules a single false start means disqualification, which is why the starts are so heavily scrutinised.

AnswerA · chess, for a position where a player has no legal move and is not in check

1. In chess, stalemate is the position where the player to move has no legal move and is not in check.

2. It is a draw, not a win, which is what distinguishes it from checkmate.

3. The everyday meaning of the word — a deadlock — comes from the chess term rather than the other way round.

AnswerC · Eleven

1. Hockey is eleven a side, including the goalkeeper.

2. Football and cricket are also eleven a side, which is why the three are often grouped.

3. Hockey permits rolling substitutions, so the eleven on the field changes constantly while the number does not.

AnswerC · 45 minutes each

1. The Laws of the Game set two halves of 45 minutes, with added time for stoppages.

2. In knockout matches that are level, extra time is two periods of 15 minutes.

AnswerC · 42.195 km

1. The marathon distance was fixed at 42.195 km, the course used at the London Olympics of 1908.

2. A half marathon is half of that, about 21.1 km.

AnswerB · Six

1. Volleyball is six a side on court.

2. Basketball is five, handball seven, and kabaddi seven.

3. Rotation in volleyball means each player serves in turn, which is a rule that follows directly from having six positions.

AnswerB · 22 yards

1. The pitch is twenty-two yards between the stumps.

2. That is one chain, an old surveyor's unit, which is where the odd-looking figure comes from.

3. The measurement has not changed since the Laws were first written down.

AnswerC · Cricket

1. A cricket ground's boundary has a permitted range rather than one fixed size, so grounds differ considerably.

2. The pitch in the middle is standard at twenty-two yards, but the outfield is not.

3. Basketball, tennis and volleyball all have courts of fixed dimensions.

AnswerB · touch an opponent and return to their own half in a single breath

1. The raider crosses into the opponents' half, touches one or more defenders, and must return to their own half to score.

2. The raid must be completed in a single breath, traditionally demonstrated by the continuous cant.

3. There is no ball in kabaddi at all, which is what the reference to carrying one is placed here to test.

AnswerA · P. V. Sindhu

1. P. V. Sindhu won women's singles silver at Rio 2016 and bronze at Tokyo 2020, becoming the first Indian woman with two individual Olympic medals.

2. Saina Nehwal won India's first Olympic badminton medal, a bronze at London in 2012.

AnswerD · Milkha Singh

1. Milkha Singh, a 400 m runner, earned the name after beating Pakistan's Abdul Khaliq in Lahore in 1960.

2. He won gold at the 1958 Commonwealth Games and the Asian Games.

3. Balbir Singh Senior was a hockey player who won three Olympic golds.

AnswerD · shooting

1. Abhinav Bindra won the 10 metre air rifle at Beijing in 2008, India's first individual Olympic gold.

2. India's earlier golds had all been won by the men's hockey team.

3. The second individual gold came in athletics, with Neeraj Chopra's javelin at Tokyo in 2021.

AnswerB · six consecutive golds from 1928 to 1956

1. India won six consecutive Olympic hockey golds from 1928 to 1956.

2. Further golds followed in 1964 and 1980, making eight in all.

3. The run began before independence, so the claim that India won no gold before 1947 is wrong, as is the claim of a single gold in 1928.

AnswerB · 1983

1. India won the World Cup in 1983, beating the West Indies in the final at Lord's.

2. 1975 was the first World Cup of all, which the West Indies won.

3. India won again in 2011, and the Twenty20 World Cup in 2007, so there are several wins and a question must be read for which competition it means.

AnswerD · K. D. Jadhav

1. Khashaba Dadasaheb Jadhav won bronze in bantamweight freestyle wrestling at Helsinki in 1952.

2. India did not win another individual Olympic medal until Leander Paes's tennis bronze at Atlanta in 1996.

3. Milkha Singh finished fourth in the 400 m at Rome in 1960 and did not win a medal.

AnswerC · India's first chess grandmaster and later world champion

1. Anand became India's first chess grandmaster in 1988.

2. He went on to hold the world championship, and his success is the reason India now produces grandmasters in numbers.

3. The other achievements listed belong to other people in other sports entirely.

AnswerA · weightlifting, in 2000

1. Karnam Malleswari won a bronze in weightlifting at Sydney in 2000.

2. She was the first Indian woman to win an Olympic medal of any colour.

3. The other three achievements listed are all real Indian women's Olympic medals, but they came later.

AnswerC · 2019

1. The Prime Minister launched the Fit India Movement on 29 August 2019, National Sports Day.

2. It encourages physical activity and sport in everyday life, through schools, workplaces and events such as the Fit India Freedom Run.

AnswerA · Manipur

1. The National Sports University is at Imphal, Manipur, a state known for producing many of India's leading sportspersons.

2. It offers degrees in sports science, sports coaching and sports management.

3. Patiala, in Punjab, hosts the National Institute of Sports, a different institution.

AnswerD · a national programme for grassroots sport, including school and university games

1. Khelo India is the government's programme for sport at the grassroots.

2. It runs multi-level games, including the Khelo India Youth Games and the Khelo India University Games, and supports athletes identified through them.

3. Selecting the Olympic contingent is the Indian Olympic Association's function, not Khelo India's.

AnswerA · The Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports

1. Sport is the responsibility of the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports.

2. The Sports Authority of India works under it, and the national sports awards are announced by it.

3. The Ministry of Culture handles the arts academies and heritage, which is a separate set of institutions and awards.

AnswerA · the National Anti-Doping Agency

1. The National Anti-Doping Agency is India's national anti-doping organisation.

2. It applies the World Anti-Doping Code domestically, including the prohibited list maintained by WADA.

3. Keeping testing separate from the bodies that train and select athletes is the whole point of having a distinct agency.

AnswerB · support athletes identified as medal prospects at the Olympics

1. The scheme supports a small group of athletes identified as realistic medal prospects.

2. Support covers training, equipment, coaching and international exposure, which are the costs an individual athlete cannot usually meet.

3. It works at the opposite end of the pyramid from Khelo India, which is about participation at the base.

AnswerD · Patiala

1. The National Institute of Sports at Patiala is the principal coaching institute.

2. It runs the diploma and certificate courses through which most Indian coaches qualify.

3. SAI operates regional centres elsewhere, including Bengaluru, but Patiala is the coaching institute.