खेल और प्रतियोगिताएँ

हिंदी में पढ़ें

Sports & Competitions — The Scoreboard in Your Head

◆ On the evening of 7 August 2021, in Tokyo, a 23-year-old from Panipat ran in and threw his javelin. It flew 87.58 metres, and Neeraj Chopra won India's first-ever Olympic gold in athletics. India had waited more than a hundred years for that moment — since the time India first appeared in the Olympic results in 1900. Yet almost a century earlier, in 1928, an Indian hockey team led on the field by the magic of Dhyan Chand had already won gold at Amsterdam. Two golds, ninety-three years apart, one story. Sports GK is exactly this: a few big stories, a lot of names, numbers and cups. Learn the stories and the names stick by themselves.

What you will master today (Learning Objectives)

How many players each game has, and the special words (terms) of each game

Which cup or trophy belongs to which sport — the most-asked area of this chapter

The Olympics, Asian Games and Commonwealth Games: first editions, symbols, India's landmark medals

National sports awards — who gets which award and why

Sports bodies, their headquarters, famous stadiums, nicknames and autobiographies

The examiner's favourite traps on this chapter, and simple hooks to beat them

PART A — THE GAMES

1. How Many Players? (on the field, per side)

Polo – 4 | Basketball – 5 | Volleyball – 6 | Ice hockey – 6 | Kabaddi – 7 | Water polo – 7 | Netball – 7 | Handball – 7 | Kho-Kho – 9 (traditional rules; a squad has 12) | Baseball – 9 | Cricket – 11 | Football – 11 | Hockey – 11 | Rugby union – 15

Mnemonic: "Polo 4 legs, Basket 5 fingers, Volley 6 strings" — Polo 4, Basketball 5, Volleyball 6. Then the "11 club": Cricket, Football, Hockey.

A few fixed measurements:
Cricket pitch – 22 yards (about 20.12 m) | Marathon – 42.195 km | Chessboard – 64 squares, 32 pieces (16 each) | Hockey match – four quarters of 15 minutes | Football match – two halves of 45 minutes | Badminton shuttlecock – 16 feathers

🧠 Active Recall: Which three popular games have 11 players a side? Which game has only 4? (Cricket, football, hockey; polo.)

2. The Language of Each Game (Sports Terms)

Cricket – LBW, googly, doosra, yorker, bouncer, maiden over, hat-trick, duck, stumping, follow-on, silly point, gully, no-ball, free hit
Football – penalty kick, corner kick, free kick, offside, throw-in, header, dribble, hat-trick, red card
Hockey – penalty corner (short corner), penalty stroke, striking circle, push-in, flick, scoop, bully (the old way of starting play)
Tennis – love (zero), deuce, advantage, ace, double fault, volley, lob, tie-break, Grand Slam
Badminton – shuttlecock (also called a "birdie"), smash, drop shot, net shot
Golf – par, birdie (1 under par), eagle (2 under), bogey (1 over), hole-in-one, caddie, tee, putt
Chess – checkmate, stalemate, castling, gambit, grandmaster
Boxing – knockout, jab, hook, uppercut, bout
Wrestling – half nelson, full nelson, freestyle, Greco-Roman
Weightlifting – snatch, clean and jerk
Shooting / Archery – bull's eye, trap, skeet
Swimming – freestyle, butterfly, breaststroke, backstroke
Polo – chukker (a period of play), mallet
Kabaddi – raid, raider, cant, baulk line, bonus line
Kho-Kho – kho, chaser, runner, pole
Basketball – dunk, free throw, rebound | Volleyball – spike, block | Ice hockey – puck | Rugby – scrum, try | Billiards / Snooker – cue, break, pot

Note: some words belong to more than one game. "Hat-trick" is used in cricket, football and hockey. "Smash" is used in tennis, badminton and table tennis. "Birdie" is a golf score and also a name for the shuttlecock.

🧠 Active Recall: Chukker, puck, scrum, snatch — name the game for each. (Polo, ice hockey, rugby, weightlifting.)

3. Cups and Trophies — Which Sport?

Cricket – Ranji Trophy (national first-class championship, named after K. S. Ranjitsinhji), Duleep Trophy, Irani Cup, Vijay Hazare Trophy (one-day), Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy (T20), Deodhar Trophy, Cooch Behar Trophy, Border–Gavaskar Trophy (India vs Australia, Tests), The Ashes (England vs Australia)
Football – Durand Cup (India's oldest football tournament, started 1888 at Shimla), Santosh Trophy (national championship for state teams), Subroto Cup (inter-school), IFA Shield, Federation Cup
Hockey – Beighton Cup (one of the oldest hockey tournaments, Kolkata), Aga Khan Cup, Murugappa Gold Cup
Badminton – Thomas Cup (men's team), Uber Cup (women's team), Sudirman Cup (mixed team)
Tennis – Davis Cup (men's team), Billie Jean King Cup (women's team; earlier called the Fed Cup)
Table tennis – Swaythling Cup (men's team), Corbillon Cup (women's team)
Golf – Ryder Cup (USA vs Europe)
Boat race – Nehru Trophy (snake-boat race, Punnamada Lake, Alappuzha, Kerala)

Mnemonic: "TUS for shuttle" — Thomas (men), Uber (women), Sudirman (mixed): all badminton.
Mnemonic: "DSS kicks the ball" — Durand, Santosh, Subroto: all football.

🧠 Active Recall: Beighton Cup and Durand Cup — which is hockey and which is football? (Beighton – hockey; Durand – football.)

4. Where Games Came From

Chess began in India as Chaturanga (around the Gupta period). Kabaddi and Kho-Kho are Indian games. Modern polo grew out of the traditional game of Manipur (Sagol Kangjei); the Calcutta Polo Club (1862) is one of the oldest polo clubs in the world.
Basketball was invented by James Naismith (USA, 1891); volleyball by William G. Morgan (USA, 1895). The name "badminton" comes from Badminton House in England.

PART B — THE BIG COMPETITIONS

5. The Olympic Games

Ancient Olympics: held at Olympia in Greece, from 776 BC, in honour of Zeus.
Modern Olympics: started in 1896 at Athens, through the efforts of Pierre de Coubertin of France. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) was founded in 1894; its headquarters is at Lausanne, Switzerland. Olympic Day is 23 June.
Summer Olympics are held every four years. Women first competed in 1900 (Paris). The Games were not held in 1916, 1940 and 1944 because of the World Wars.
The Tokyo 2020 Olympics were held in 2021 (because of COVID-19) but kept the name "Tokyo 2020".

Symbols:
Olympic rings – five interlocking rings: blue, yellow, black, green and red on a white flag; they stand for the union of five continents. The flag was first flown at the 1920 Antwerp Games.
Motto – "Citius, Altius, Fortius" (Faster, Higher, Stronger). On 20 July 2021 the IOC added "Communiter" — "Together".
Olympic flame – lit at Olympia with the Sun's rays; the first torch relay was in 1936 (Berlin).

Host cities to remember: London is the first city to host the Summer Games three times (1908, 1948, 2012); Paris did it in 1900, 1924 and 2024. Los Angeles will host in 2028, and Brisbane in 2032.

India at the Olympics — landmark medals:
1900 Paris – Norman Pritchard, two silver medals in athletics (India's first Olympic medals)
1928 Amsterdam – first hockey gold (India won hockey gold 8 times: 1928, 1932, 1936, 1948, 1952, 1956, 1964, 1980)
1952 Helsinki – K. D. Jadhav, bronze in wrestling: independent India's first individual medal
1996 Atlanta – Leander Paes, bronze in tennis
2000 Sydney – Karnam Malleswari, bronze in weightlifting: first Indian woman to win an Olympic medal
2004 Athens – Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, silver in shooting (double trap)
2008 Beijing – Abhinav Bindra, gold in 10 m air rifle: India's first individual Olympic gold; Vijender Singh, India's first Olympic medal in boxing (bronze)
2012 London – 6 medals (including Mary Kom and Saina Nehwal, bronze)
2016 Rio – P. V. Sindhu (silver, badminton), Sakshi Malik (bronze, first Indian woman wrestler with an Olympic medal)
Tokyo 2020 (held 2021) – 7 medals, India's best: Neeraj Chopra gold (javelin), Mirabai Chanu silver (weightlifting), Ravi Kumar Dahiya silver (wrestling), and bronzes for P. V. Sindhu, Lovlina Borgohain, Bajrang Punia and the men's hockey team
Paris 2024 – 6 medals (1 silver, 5 bronze): Neeraj Chopra silver (javelin); bronze for Manu Bhaker (10 m air pistol), Manu Bhaker and Sarabjot Singh (10 m air pistol mixed team), Swapnil Kusale (50 m rifle 3 positions), Aman Sehrawat (wrestling) and the men's hockey team. Manu Bhaker became the first athlete of independent India to win two medals at a single Games.

Paralympics: first held in 1960 (Rome). India's first Paralympic gold – Murlikant Petkar (swimming, 1972). At the Paris 2024 Paralympics India won 29 medals (7 gold, 9 silver, 13 bronze), its best ever.

Mnemonic for Olympic "firsts" of India: "Pritchard Plays, Jadhav Jumps, Malleswari Moves, Bindra Bangs" — Pritchard 1900 (first medals), Jadhav 1952 (first individual medal after independence), Malleswari 2000 (first woman), Bindra 2008 (first individual gold).

🧠 Active Recall: Who won India's first individual Olympic gold, and in which year? Who was the first Indian woman to win an Olympic medal? (Abhinav Bindra, 2008; Karnam Malleswari, 2000.)

6. Asian Games and Commonwealth Games

Asian Games: the first Asian Games were held in New Delhi in 1951. India hosted them again in 1982 (New Delhi; mascot "Appu", an elephant). Guru Dutt Sondhi is regarded as the founder of the Asian Games. Motto: "Ever Onward". Governing body: Olympic Council of Asia (OCA), headquarters Kuwait. Held every four years. Kabaddi was first included in 1990 (Beijing).
The Asian Games held in Hangzhou (China) in 2023 were officially called "Hangzhou 2022"; India crossed 100 medals for the first time there — 107 medals (28 gold, 38 silver, 41 bronze).

Commonwealth Games: first held in 1930 at Hamilton, Canada, as the British Empire Games. Held every four years. India hosted them in 2010 at Delhi (mascot "Shera", a tiger) and finished second with 101 medals.

7. The World Cups

Cricket (ICC, headquarters Dubai; BCCI, headquarters Mumbai)
ODI World Cup: first in 1975 in England — won by West Indies. India won in 1983 (captain Kapil Dev, final at Lord's against West Indies) and in 2011 (captain M. S. Dhoni, final at Wankhede, Mumbai, against Sri Lanka).
T20 World Cup: India won the first edition in 2007.
Football (FIFA, founded 1904 in Paris, headquarters Zurich): first World Cup in 1930 in Uruguay, won by Uruguay. Brazil has won the most titles (5).
Hockey (FIH, headquarters Lausanne): the men's Hockey World Cup began in 1971. India won it in 1975 at Kuala Lumpur under captain Ajit Pal Singh.

🧠 Active Recall: Who won the first cricket World Cup, and who won the first football World Cup? (West Indies, 1975; Uruguay, 1930.)

PART C — INDIA'S SPORTS SYSTEM

8. National Sports Awards (Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports)

Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna – India's highest sporting honour, for the most outstanding performance by a sportsperson. Instituted in 1991–92; the first awardee was Viswanathan Anand (chess). It was called the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna until 6 August 2021, when it was renamed after Major Dhyan Chand.
Arjuna Award – for consistent excellent performance by sportspersons; instituted in 1961 (the oldest of these awards).
Dronacharya Award – for coaches who produce medal winners; instituted in 1985.
Lifetime award – the Dhyan Chand Award (from 2002) honoured lifetime contribution to sport; in the National Sports Awards 2024 this honour was given as the Arjuna Award (Lifetime).
Maulana Abul Kalam Azad (MAKA) Trophy – to the university with the best overall performance in inter-university sports.
Rashtriya Khel Protsahan Puraskar – to organisations and companies that promote sport.
Tenzing Norgay National Adventure Award – for adventure activities on land, water and air.

Mnemonic: "Guru gets Drona, Shishya gets Arjuna, the Ratna goes to the best" — in the Mahabharata, Dronacharya was the teacher and Arjuna the pupil. So the Dronacharya Award is for coaches; the Arjuna Award is for players.

🧠 Active Recall: Which award goes to a coach? Which is older — Arjuna or Khel Ratna? (Dronacharya; Arjuna, 1961.)

9. Sports Bodies, Institutions, Schemes and Days

International bodies and headquarters: IOC – Lausanne | FIFA – Zurich | ICC – Dubai | FIH (hockey) – Lausanne | FIDE (chess) – Lausanne | BWF (badminton) – Kuala Lumpur | ITF (tennis) – London | World Athletics – Monaco | OCA – Kuwait
Indian bodies: Indian Olympic Association (1927), BCCI (1928, Mumbai), All India Football Federation (1937).
Institutions: Sports Authority of India (SAI) – set up in 1984 after the 1982 Asian Games; Netaji Subhas National Institute of Sports (NIS) – Patiala; Lakshmibai National Institute of Physical Education (LNIPE) – Gwalior; National Sports University – Imphal (Manipur).
Schemes: Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS) – 2014; Khelo India – 2017–18; Fit India Movement – launched on 29 August 2019.
Days: National Sports Day – 29 August, the birthday of Major Dhyan Chand (born 1905, Allahabad). Olympic Day – 23 June.
A common trap: India has no officially declared "national game". In a reply to an RTI query (January 2020), the Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports said the government has not declared any sport as the national game.

10. Famous Stadiums

Cricket in India: Eden Gardens – Kolkata | Wankhede – Mumbai | Narendra Modi Stadium (Motera) – Ahmedabad, the world's largest cricket stadium by seating | M. Chinnaswamy – Bengaluru | M. A. Chidambaram (Chepauk) – Chennai | Arun Jaitley Stadium (formerly Feroz Shah Kotla) – Delhi | Green Park – Kanpur | Barabati – Cuttack
Other sports in India: Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium – Delhi (hockey) | Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium – Delhi (athletics, football; main venue of the 1982 Asian Games and 2010 Commonwealth Games) | Salt Lake Stadium (Yuva Bharati Krirangan) – Kolkata (football) | Kalinga Stadium – Bhubaneswar (hockey) | Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium – Delhi
World: Lord's – London, the "Home of Cricket" | Melbourne Cricket Ground – Australia | Wembley – London (football) | Maracana – Rio de Janeiro (football) | Wimbledon – London (tennis, grass) | Roland Garros – Paris (tennis, clay) | Flushing Meadows – New York (tennis)

Tennis Grand Slams: Australian Open (hard court), French Open (clay), Wimbledon (grass, the oldest, from 1877), US Open (hard court).

11. Famous Indian Sportspersons — Nicknames and Books

Major Dhyan Chand – hockey, "The Wizard"; autobiography "Goal"
Milkha Singh – athletics, "The Flying Sikh"; "The Race of My Life"
P. T. Usha – athletics, "Payyoli Express"; in December 2022 she became the first woman President of the Indian Olympic Association
Kapil Dev – cricket, "Haryana Hurricane"; "Straight from the Heart"
Sachin Tendulkar – cricket, "Master Blaster"; "Playing It My Way"; in 2014 he became the first sportsperson to receive the Bharat Ratna
M. C. Mary Kom – boxing, six-time world champion; "Unbreakable"
Abhinav Bindra – shooting; "A Shot at History"
Viswanathan Anand – chess, India's first grandmaster (1988); Koneru Humpy – India's first woman grandmaster
Prakash Padukone – badminton, first Indian to win the All England Championship (1980)
Mihir Sen – first Indian to swim across the English Channel (1958)
Bachendri Pal – first Indian woman to climb Mount Everest (1984)

Summary Table

⏰ Review this chapter after 2 days.

⚠️ Caution: Examiner's Trap

Trap 1 — "Similar Name": "The Uber Cup is for men's badminton." It is for women; the Thomas Cup is for men. In the same way, the Beighton Cup (hockey) and the Durand Cup (football) sound alike; the Nehru Trophy of Kerala is a boat race.

Trap 2 — "Chronological Confusion": "The Tokyo 2020 Olympics were held in 2020." They were held in 2021. Likewise, the Asian Games held in Hangzhou in 2023 are officially "Hangzhou 2022". The Arjuna Award (1961) is older than the Khel Ratna (1991–92).

Trap 3 — "Almost True Statement": "Neeraj Chopra won India's first individual Olympic gold." Almost — he won India's first gold in athletics (2021). The first individual gold was Abhinav Bindra's (2008). Similarly, "Sushil Kumar won two medals at one Olympics" — he won two medals, but at two different Games (2008, 2012).

Trap 4 — "Negative Phrasing": "Hockey is the national game of India — true or NOT?" No sport has been officially declared the national game (RTI reply, 2020). Read every "NOT" and "officially" slowly.

🔁 Linguistic Bridge: In Hindi we say this, in English we say that

कुश्ती — Wrestling
मुक्केबाज़ी — Boxing
भारोत्तोलन — Weightlifting
निशानेबाज़ी — Shooting
तीरंदाज़ी — Archery
भाला फेंक — Javelin throw
चक्का फेंक — Discus throw
गोला फेंक — Shot put
तलवारबाज़ी — Fencing
घुड़सवारी — Equestrian
शतरंज — Chess
प्रशिक्षक — Coach
राष्ट्रीय खेल दिवस — National Sports Day

🔗 Static-Dynamic Link (checked up to 2026)

Cricket: India won the ICC Men's T20 World Cup in 2024 and again in 2026 (final on 8 March 2026 at Ahmedabad, against New Zealand) — the first team to win this title three times. India also won the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 (final on 9 March 2025, Dubai) and its first ICC Women's ODI World Cup in 2025 (final on 2 November 2025 at Navi Mumbai, against South Africa).

Chess: D. Gukesh became the youngest world chess champion in December 2024 (Singapore), the second Indian after Viswanathan Anand. In 2024 India won gold in both the open and women's sections of the Chess Olympiad (Budapest).

National Sports Awards 2024 (presented on 17 January 2025): the Khel Ratna went to Manu Bhaker, D. Gukesh, Harmanpreet Singh and para-athlete Praveen Kumar.

Badminton and Kho-Kho: India won the Thomas Cup for the first time in 2022. India won both the men's and women's titles at the first Kho Kho World Cup (New Delhi, January 2025).

Multi-sport games: at the Glasgow 2026 Commonwealth Games India won 39 medals (13 gold) and finished fourth. On 26 November 2025, Ahmedabad was confirmed as the host of the 2030 Commonwealth Games. The 2026 Asian Games are being held in Aichi–Nagoya, Japan (19 September – 4 October 2026).

Football: Spain won the FIFA World Cup 2026 (hosted by the USA, Canada and Mexico), beating Argentina 1–0 after extra time in the final on 19 July 2026.

Policy: in July 2025 the Union Cabinet approved the National Sports Policy 2025, called "Khelo Bharat Niti".

📅 Revision Planner: Three-Level Blurting

🔢 High-Yield Facts & Figures (Quick Glance)

Sports GK is a scoreboard you carry in your head. Every time you watch a match or read a sports headline, ask three questions: which game, which cup, which year? That habit alone will win you easy marks.