Sports Current Affairs MCQs

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Abhinav Bindra, Olympic gold medallist, has been chosen as a torch-bearer for the 2026 Winter Olympics. The 2026 Winter Olympics will be held in Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, from February 6 to February 22, 2026. Bindra won India’s first individual Olympic gold in the 10m air-rifle event at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. The 2026 Games will feature 116 medal events across 16 disciplines, increasing by seven events and one discipline from Beijing 2022. The Olympic Torch Relay symbolises unity, inspiration, and the Olympic spirit globally.

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Recently, India emerged as the overall champion at the 4th South Asian Senior Athletics Championships 2025 held at Birsa Munda Stadium, Ranchi. The event took place from October 24 to 26, 2025, with participation from all South Asian nations. India topped the medal tally with 20 gold and 58 total medals, followed by Sri Lanka with 16 gold and 40 total medals. Nepal stood third, while Bangladesh and Maldives followed; Bhutan finished without a medal.

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India’s Sujeet Kalkal won gold at the Under-23 World Wrestling Championships 2025. He competed in the men’s freestyle 65 kg category and defeated Umidjon Jalolov of Uzbekistan. Kalkal secured a 10-0 victory in just 4 minutes and 54 seconds, winning by technical superiority. This marks his first-ever world title, showcasing his dominance on the mat. He earlier won two U-23 Asian titles and one U-20 Asian Championship gold, making him one of India’s rising wrestling stars.

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Tennis veteran Rohan Bopanna announced his retirement at the age of 45. His final match was at the Paris Masters 1000, where he partnered with Alexander Bublik. In 2024, he became the oldest player to win a Men’s Doubles Grand Slam at the Australian Open. He also became the oldest Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) 1000 winner at the Miami Open 2024. He achieved World Number 1 ranking in doubles in 2024. Throughout his career, he won 26 doubles titles, including six ATP Masters 1000 titles.

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India achieved its best-ever performance at the 2025 Asian Youth Games held in Manama, Bahrain, with a total of 48 medals- 13 gold, 18 silver, and 17 bronze. This surpassed India’s previous tallies from 2009 and 2013 editions. 222 Indian athletes participated in the event. The girls’ kabaddi team won India’s first gold medal by defeating Iran. Priteesmita Bhoi set a world youth record in the 44kg clean and jerk to win India’s first individual gold in weightlifting. Khushi earned India’s first medal — a bronze in girls’ kurash, and Ranjana Yadav won silver in the 5000m race walk. The overall performance also served as a qualifier for the 2026 Youth Olympics in Dakar, Senegal, marking a historic milestone for Indian youth sports.

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Bhubaneswar’s Kalinga Stadium will host the first-ever National Indoor Athletics Championships in January 2026. The event is part of the 2026 domestic calendar of the Athletics Federation of India (AFI), which includes around 40 competitions. The Athletics Federation of India (AFI) plans to introduce indoor events such as pole vault (men and women) and heptathlon (men). The men’s indoor heptathlon includes seven events—60m, long jump, shot put, high jump, 60m hurdles, pole vault, and 1,000m—spread over two days. AFI is also bidding for the 2028 Asian Indoor Championships.

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India’s Under-19 cricket team will start their 2026 ICC Under-19 Men’s Cricket World Cup campaign against the United States on January 15 in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe. The tournament will be co-hosted by Zimbabwe and Namibia from January 15 to February 6 with 16 teams playing 41 matches. India is placed in Group A with the USA, Bangladesh, and New Zealand, playing all group matches at Queens Sports Club, Bulawayo.

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Simranpreet Kaur Brar won the gold medal in the women’s 25-meter pistol event at the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) World Cup Final 2025 in Doha, Qatar. She equalled the Junior World Record of the Paris Olympics champion by hitting 41 out of 50 shots in the finals. In the men’s 50m rifle 3-positions event, Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar won the silver medal with a score of 413.3, just 0.9 points behind the gold medalist. India is second on the medal tally with six medals: two golds, three silvers, and one bronze.

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The 33rd Southeast Asian Games (SEA 2025) has begun in Bangkok and Chonburi province, Thailand, with the Opening Ceremony at Rajamangala National Stadium. Thailand is hosting over 13,000 athletes from 11 Southeast Asian nations: Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Cambodia, Philippines, Singapore, Myanmar, Vietnam, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Brunei Darussalam, and Timor-Leste. Athletes will compete in 50 medal sports, including Olympic disciplines as well as traditional regional sports. The event highlights regional sporting excellence, cultural exchange, and collaboration among Southeast Asian countries.

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India finished the Dubai 2025 Asian Youth Para Games with 56 medals, including 19 gold, reflecting its strong performance in youth para sports. The Games featured around 1,500 athletes from 35 Asian countries and witnessed 25 record-breaking performances, including nine world records and 16 continental records. Uzbekistan topped the medal tally with 197 medals and 99 gold, followed by Iran with 216 medals and 62 gold, while Japan secured 40 gold medals. The fifth edition of the Games was held across 11 sports disciplines such as athletics, swimming, badminton, and wheelchair basketball. The Games also marked the first use of Artificial Intelligence-powered robots in Asian Youth Para Games operations, highlighting innovation and accessibility.