← Static General Knowledge: Symbols, Firsts, Awards, Sports and Organisations

Lesson 5 of 8 · Static General Knowledge: Symbols, Firsts, Awards, Sports and Organisations

Sports GK: Players per Side, Terms, Trophies, Olympics and National Sports Awards

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Team sizes

Cricket, football and hockey have 11; kabaddi has 7, as do handball, netball and water polo; kho-kho puts 9 on the field; volleyball and ice hockey have 6; basketball has 5; polo has 4; baseball and softball have 9; and rugby union has 15 and rugby league 13. A cricket pitch is 22 yards long, a football match lasts 90 minutes in two halves, and a hockey match is played in 4 quarters of 15 minutes.

Terms by sport

Cricket has googly, doosra, yorker, LBW, maiden over and follow-on; football has offside, penalty kick and free kick; hockey has penalty corner, flick, scoop and the striking circle. Tennis uses love, deuce, ace, volley and let; badminton has the smash and drop shot; golf has par, birdie, eagle, bogey and tee; chess has castling, checkmate, stalemate, gambit and en passant; boxing has jab, hook and uppercut; polo has the chukker; and kabaddi has the raid, cant and lona. Grand slam is used in tennis and in the card game bridge.

Trophies and cups

In cricket, the Ranji Trophy (named after K.S. Ranjitsinhji, begun in 1934) is the national first-class championship, along with the Duleep Trophy, Irani Cup, Deodhar Trophy and Vijay Hazare Trophy; the Ashes are contested by England and Australia, and the Border-Gavaskar Trophy by India and Australia. In football, the Durand Cup (1888) is one of the oldest football tournaments in the world, the Santosh Trophy is the national championship for states and the Subroto Cup is for schools. Hockey has the Beighton Cup, Aga Khan Cup, Rangaswamy Cup and Obaidullah Gold Cup. Badminton has the Thomas Cup (men), Uber Cup (women) and Sudirman Cup (mixed teams); tennis has the Davis Cup (men) and the Fed Cup (women, now the Billie Jean King Cup); table tennis has the Swaythling Cup (men) and Corbillon Cup (women); and golf has the Ryder Cup and Walker Cup. The Nehru Trophy is Kerala's snake-boat race on Punnamada Lake.

Olympic basics

The modern Olympic Games were revived by Pierre de Coubertin, who founded the International Olympic Committee in 1894; the IOC is headquartered at Lausanne in Switzerland, and the first modern Games were held at Athens in 1896. The five interlocking rings, blue, yellow, black, green and red on a white background, stand for the union of the five continents and were first flown at the Antwerp Games of 1920. The motto is Citius, Altius, Fortius, Latin for Faster, Higher, Stronger, to which the IOC later added Communiter (Together). The Olympic flame was first lit at Amsterdam in 1928, and the torch relay began with the Berlin Games of 1936. The Winter Olympics began in 1924 at Chamonix and the Paralympics in 1960 at Rome. Closer home, the first Asian Games were held at New Delhi in 1951, and the Commonwealth Games began as the British Empire Games at Hamilton, Canada, in 1930; Delhi hosted them in 2010.

India at the Olympics

India's hockey team won its first gold at Amsterdam in 1928, with Dhyan Chand as its star, and went on to win 8 Olympic golds, the last at Moscow in 1980. K.D. Jadhav won independent India's first individual medal, a wrestling bronze at Helsinki in 1952. Karnam Malleswari became the first Indian woman to win an Olympic medal, a weightlifting bronze at Sydney in 2000. Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore won independent India's first individual silver (double trap shooting, Athens 2004), and Abhinav Bindra won the first individual gold (10 m air rifle, Beijing 2008). Milkha Singh (400 m, Rome 1960) and P.T. Usha (400 m hurdles, Los Angeles 1984) both finished fourth, the most famous near misses.

Stadiums and venues

Eden Gardens (Kolkata), Wankhede and Brabourne (Mumbai), M.A. Chidambaram or Chepauk (Chennai), M. Chinnaswamy (Bengaluru), Green Park (Kanpur) and Barabati (Cuttack) are well-known cricket grounds, and the Wankhede hosted the 2011 World Cup final. The Salt Lake Stadium (Yuva Bharati Krirangan) in Kolkata is a major football venue, the Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium in Delhi is a hockey ground, Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar has hosted major hockey events, and the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium and Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium in Delhi were built for the 1982 Asian Games. Abroad, Lord's in London is called the home of cricket and hosted India's 1983 World Cup win, and Wimbledon (1877) is the oldest tennis tournament.

National sports awards

The Arjuna Award (1961) honours sportspersons for consistent outstanding performance. The Khel Ratna, the highest sporting honour, was instituted in 1991-92 as the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna and is now named after Major Dhyan Chand; its first recipient was the chess player Viswanathan Anand, who in 1988 had become India's first Grandmaster. The Dronacharya Award (1985) is for coaches, and its first recipients were Bhalchandra Bhaskar Bhagwat (wrestling), O.M. Nambiar (athletics) and O.P. Bhardwaj (boxing). A lifetime-achievement award for sportspersons was added in 2002 as the Dhyan Chand Award, and the Maulana Abul Kalam Azad Trophy (1956-57) goes to the best university in inter-university sport. The Tenzing Norgay National Adventure Award honours adventure on land, at sea and in the air.

Key facts

Players per side: cricket, football, hockey 11; kho-kho 9; kabaddi, handball, netball, water polo 7; volleyball 6; basketball 5; polo 4; rugby union 15.
Badminton: Thomas Cup (men), Uber Cup (women), Sudirman Cup (mixed); tennis: Davis Cup (men); table tennis: Swaythling Cup (men), Corbillon Cup (women); golf: Ryder Cup, Walker Cup.
Indian football: Durand Cup (1888), Santosh Trophy (states), Subroto Cup (schools); Indian cricket: Ranji Trophy, Duleep Trophy, Irani Cup, Deodhar Trophy; hockey: Beighton Cup, Aga Khan Cup.
Terms: golf par, birdie, eagle, bogey; chess castling, gambit, en passant, stalemate; polo chukker; kabaddi raid, cant, lona; cricket googly, doosra, yorker.
Olympics: IOC founded 1894 by Pierre de Coubertin, HQ Lausanne; first modern Games Athens 1896; rings first flown at Antwerp 1920; flame first lit at Amsterdam 1928; torch relay from Berlin 1936.
India's Olympic firsts: hockey gold 1928; individual medal after independence K.D. Jadhav 1952; woman medallist Karnam Malleswari 2000; individual silver after independence Rathore 2004; individual gold Abhinav Bindra 2008.
Awards: Arjuna 1961 (sportspersons); Dronacharya 1985 (coaches); Khel Ratna 1991-92 (first Viswanathan Anand); lifetime achievement 2002 (Dhyan Chand Award); MAKA Trophy for universities.
Multi-sport firsts: Asian Games New Delhi 1951 (India hosted again in 1982); Commonwealth Games (as British Empire Games) Hamilton 1930, Delhi hosted 2010; Winter Olympics Chamonix 1924; Paralympics Rome 1960.

Quick revision

Players: cricket, football, hockey 11, kho-kho 9, kabaddi 7, volleyball 6, basketball 5, polo 4; Thomas, Uber = badminton; Davis = tennis; Swaythling = table tennis; Ryder = golf; Durand, Santosh = football; Ranji = cricket; Beighton = hockey; IOC 1894 Lausanne, Athens 1896; first hockey gold 1928, 8 golds; K.D. Jadhav 1952; Malleswari 2000; Bindra 2008; Arjuna 1961, Dronacharya 1985, Khel Ratna 1991-92 (Anand); Asian Games 1951 Delhi.

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All 8 lessons on Static General Knowledge: Symbols, Firsts, Awards, Sports and Organisations