About Sports and Awards
Sports and awards current affairs is the most volatile part of the section and the most avoidable. Results change every week and no candidate can keep up with them; what can be learned is the structure of the sporting calendar, the awards that are given on fixed dates, and the tournaments that are held in a known cycle. This page has no practice questions, deliberately. Questions written about the events of one year are wrong within months, and a bank of them would need rebuilding every season. What is taught here is the part that stays useful: what to read, how to keep it, and how it is asked.
What you need to understand
- Learn the calendar rather than the results. Which tournaments happen in which year, and which of them are held every four years, is a fact that lasts.
- The awards given in sport are announced on known dates, and the questions about them are usually about the award rather than the winner. The Arjuna, Khel Ratna, Dronacharya and Tenzing Norgay awards, and the honours given on Republic Day, are the recurring ones.
- A question about a tournament usually asks where it was held or who hosted it, which is a fact about the venue rather than about the play.
- The venues are learned with the sport, and the international venues - the Olympic host cities past and future - are asked more often than the domestic ones.
- For the Olympic and Commonwealth Games, learn which city hosts which edition by the year. Those are announced years ahead and do not change.
- Learn the governing bodies, national and international, for the sports that are asked about: cricket, hockey, football, athletics, chess and tennis. Questions about who governs a sport are as common as questions about who won.
- The rules of a game are static and are covered in the sports topic on this site; the current affairs questions are about who administers it and where it is played.
- Where a record is set, learn that it has been set and by whom, but expect it to be broken. Do not build a revision plan on records.
- Trophies are static and are covered in the sports topic. The questions here are about the edition of a tournament and its venue.
- Awards outside sport - the national honours, the literary prizes and the international prizes - are announced on fixed dates and are covered by the awards topic for their substance and by this page for their year.
- Read one sports page a week rather than a daily results column.
- In an interview, discussing the administration of a sport or a question of eligibility goes much further than reciting results.
- If time is short, leave this subject until last. It is the smallest part of the section and the part most likely to be wrong by the time the paper is set.
How to work through these questions
- Read one newspaper a day rather than five on a Sunday. The habit is what works, and the same item seen three times in three sources is remembered without effort.
- Keep a single notebook, physical or digital, divided by the same headings as this section: national, international, economy, science and technology, sports and awards.
- Write four lines per item at most: what happened, who was involved, where, and why it matters. More than that and the notebook becomes unreadable by the third month.
- Revise the notebook monthly rather than reading it daily. The monthly pass is what turns a list of items into a shape.
- For examinations, the previous six months matter more than the last six days. A paper set in June draws on the year to March.
- In an interview, follow one story through rather than listing ten. An interviewer can tell the difference immediately.
Mistakes that cost marks
- Collecting material without ever revising it, so that the folder grows and nothing is retained.
- Reading only the headlines, which gives the subject of an event and not what happened.
- Learning figures without the year they belong to, so that last year's number is quoted for this year.
- Trusting a single source for a disputed fact, particularly on figures and on appointments.
- Spending time on items that no examination asks about, such as individual match results, while missing appointments and policy decisions.
- Revising in the last week only, which works for facts and fails for the connections between them.
- Reading about an event without knowing where it happened, which is the commonest half-knowledge in a viva.
- Treating an announced policy as an event that has taken place, when the announcement and the implementation are usually months apart.
Worked example
What is worth recording about a tournament that has just been held?
- The tournament and its cycle - annual, biennial or every four years - which is the fact that lasts.
- The host and the year, which is what the question most often asks.
- The format, if it has changed, since a change of format is a settled fact while a result is not.
- Not the result, unless it set a record, because the result will be superseded and the rest will not.
Answer: The tournament and its cycle, the host and the year, and any change of format
Practice questions with answers
A few Sports and Awards questions with the full solution shown, so you can see
how the method is applied before you attempt the timed set.
Question 1
the Santosh Trophy belongs to which sport?
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A
motor racing
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B
chess
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C
cricket
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D
football
Answer: Option D — with explanation
the Santosh Trophy is a football competition held once a year.
Learn the calendar rather than the results: which sport a tournament belongs to and how often it is held. Governing bodies are then learned by sport, national and international together.
Common mistakes
- this tournament belongs to a different sport: motor racing
- this tournament belongs to a different sport: chess
- this tournament belongs to a different sport: cricket
Question 2
What is the standing of the Association of Tennis Professionals?
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A
the national body for training and facilities
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B
the international body for the men's tour
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C
the international body
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D
the international body for the women's tour
Answer: Option B — with explanation
the Association of Tennis Professionals is the international body for the men's tour for men's tennis.
Learn the calendar rather than the results: which sport a tournament belongs to and how often it is held. Governing bodies are then learned by sport, national and international together.
Common mistakes
- this body operates at a different level: the international body for the women's tour
- this body operates at a different level: the international body
- this body operates at a different level: the national body for training and facilities
Question 3
How often is the ICC Men's T20 World Cup held?
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A
every four years
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B
at intervals of a few years
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C
every two years
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D
once a year
Answer: Option C — with explanation
the ICC Men's T20 World Cup is a cricket competition held every two years.
Learn the calendar rather than the results: which sport a tournament belongs to and how often it is held. Governing bodies are then learned by sport, national and international together.
Common mistakes
- this tournament is held at a different interval: every four years
- this tournament is held at a different interval: once a year
- this tournament is held at a different interval: at intervals of a few years
Question 4
the Wrestling Federation of India is the governing body of which of these?
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A
boxing
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B
wrestling
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C
men's tennis
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D
table tennis
Answer: Option B — with explanation
the Wrestling Federation of India is the national body in India for wrestling.
Learn the calendar rather than the results: which sport a tournament belongs to and how often it is held. Governing bodies are then learned by sport, national and international together.
Common mistakes
- this body governs a different sport: men's tennis
- this body governs a different sport: boxing
- this body governs a different sport: table tennis
Question 5
the Badminton Association of India is the governing body of which of these?
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A
badminton
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B
chess
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C
hockey
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D
women's tennis
Answer: Option A — with explanation
the Badminton Association of India is the national body in India for badminton.
Learn the calendar rather than the results: which sport a tournament belongs to and how often it is held. Governing bodies are then learned by sport, national and international together.
Common mistakes
- this body governs a different sport: chess
- this body governs a different sport: hockey
- this body governs a different sport: women's tennis
Frequently asked questions
Why are there no questions on this page?
Because results date within days. A page of questions about this season's winners would be wrong before the next season began. What lasts - the rules, the trophies, the governing bodies - is covered in the sports topic on this site.
Should I follow results at all?
Follow the tournaments rather than the results: which are being held, where, and in what format. That is what papers ask, and it is a fraction of the reading.
Which awards are asked about?
The sporting awards announced in August, the national honours announced on Republic Day, and the international prizes announced in the autumn. Each is announced on a fixed date, so none of them can be missed if you read on those days.
Is this subject worth much time?
Not much. It is usually two or three questions in a current affairs section, and the same effort spent on national affairs or the economy returns more.
How does this relate to the sports topic?
That topic covers the static half - which trophy belongs to which game, which term to which sport and where the stadiums are. This page covers what has happened lately. Read the static topic first, because it does not date.
