Sports Current Affairs MCQs

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Pavan Kampelli won India’s first medal at the Asian Esports Games, securing a bronze in the e-football event. The games were held in Bangkok, Thailand, from November 25 to December 1, 2024. Kampelli defeated 2022 eFootball World Finals Winner Asgard Azizi from Indonesia 2-1 for the bronze. Kampelli won a $500 cash prize for his achievement. The gold medal was claimed by Nattawat Namburee from Thailand, and silver went to Ahmad Muhaimin Abdul Razak of Malaysia. Esports, played on devices like phones and gaming consoles, is growing in popularity worldwide. The International Olympic Committee will host the inaugural Olympic Esports Games in Saudi Arabia in 2025.

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The 2024 World Weightlifting Championship has started in Bahrain, showcasing elite weightlifters from across the world. This marks the first time Bahrain hosted the event, having previously hosted the 2022 Asian Weightlifting Championship. More than 500 weightlifters, including world and Olympic champions, participating in the championships. Paris 2024 gold medalists like Reeves, Nasar, and Juniansyah are expected to be standout participants in the event.

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The 2024 Guwahati Masters badminton tournament was held at Sarju Sarai Indoor Sports Complex, Guwahati, Assam. Sathish Karunakaran won the men’s singles title, defeating China’s Zhu Xuan Chen 21-17, 21-14 in 44 minutes. Tanisha Crasto and Ashwini Ponnappa defended their women’s doubles title as the top-seeded pair. They secured a straight-sets victory over China’s Li Hua Zhou and Wang Zi Meng, winning 21-18, 21-12 in 43 minutes. Sathish is also the 2023 Odisha Open Super 100 champion.

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Khelo India Winter Games 2025 will be held in Ladakh (ice events: Jan 23-27) and Jammu & Kashmir (snow events: Feb 22-25). The games mark the start of the Khelo India season, followed by Youth & Para Games in Bihar in April and University Games. The Winter Games began in 2020, with participation growing from 1,000 athletes in the first edition to more than 1,500 in 2022. In 2024, more than 1,200 participants, including 700 athletes, competed for 136 medals. The Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, with Sports Authority of India, managed the 2024 edition. These games aim to identify talent for the 2026 Winter Olympics.

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Dommaraju Gukesh, at 18, became the youngest chess world champion, surpassing Garry Kasparov’s record. He achieved this by defeating Ding Liren after a three-week battle in Singapore. Gukesh showed exceptional focus, minimal social media use, and meditative concentration during the tournament. Starting chess at 11, his dedication and obsession with becoming No. 1 set him apart. Despite setbacks in the championship, he responded with resilience and readiness to fight. Chess experts, including Susan Polgar, believe Gukesh has not yet reached his peak potential. He joins an elite lineage of chess champions, the youngest ever to do so.

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Mumbai, led by Shreyas Iyer, won the 2024-25 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy by defeating Madhya Pradesh in the final. The final took place at the Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru, on December 15, 2024. The Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy is a domestic Twenty20 cricket championship in India. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) organizes the tournament annually. It’s named after Syed Mushtaq Ali, an Indian cricketer who was the first to score an overseas Test century for India. The 2024-25 season ran from November 23 to December 15, 2024, with matches held at various venues across India. Thirty-eight teams, including those from the Ranji Trophy, participated in the tournament, divided into five groups.

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Karnataka’s M. Raghu and Haryana’s Devika Sihag won the men’s and women’s singles titles, respectively, at the 86th Senior National Badminton Championships 2024. The tournament was organized by the Badminton Association of India and hosted by the Karnataka Badminton Association in Bengaluru from December 20 to 24, 2024. In the men’s singles final, M. Raghu defeated former champion Mithun Manjunath of Karnataka with a score of 14-21, 21-14, 24-22, claiming his first senior national championship title.

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The Disabled Cricket Council of India (DCCI) announced India’s participation in the Physical Disabled Cricket Champions Trophy 2025. The tournament will take place in Colombo, Sri Lanka, from January 12 to January 21, 2025. Teams from India, England, Sri Lanka, and Pakistan will compete, showcasing the talent of physically disabled cricketers. An intensive training camp for the Indian probable squad will be held in Jaipur in the first week of January 2025. The final Indian squad for the tournament will be selected after the training camp.

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Former New Zealand cricketer Martin Guptill retired from international cricket after a 14-year career (2009–2022). He played 367 matches (198 ODIs, 122 T20Is, 47 Tests) and scored 23 international centuries. Guptill is New Zealand’s leading T20I run-scorer (3,531 runs) and third-highest ODI run-scorer (7,346 runs). He scored New Zealand’s first ODI double-century (237*) in the 2015 ICC World Cup and a century on ODI debut in 2009. Known for spectacular fielding, he famously ran out MS Dhoni in the 2019 World Cup semifinal.

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Karnataka men’s senior cricket team won its 5th Vijay Hazare Trophy by defeating Vidarbha by 36 runs in the 2024-25 final. The final was held on 18 January 2025 at Kotambi Stadium, Vadodara, Gujarat. This victory ended Karnataka’s five-year title drought in domestic cricket. Vijay Hazare Trophy, organized by BCCI, is a premier 50-over one-day tournament featuring 38 Ranji teams.