Hockey, Olympic - Current Affairs Questions and Answers

ANSWER: N. Ramachandran

Explanation:
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has awarded the prestigious Olympic Order to Indian Olympic Association (IOA) president N Ramachandran. The award is given in acknowledgement for Ramachandran’s outstanding contribution to the Olympic movement. Former IOA president, the late B.S. Adityan was also honoured with the same award, in 1995.

• Ramachandran was elected president in February 2014
• IOC is an NPO with 100 active members and 32 honorary members

ANSWER: 2

Explanation:
India had to wait long for their second Women's Asia Cup title with the last one coming way back in 2004

India edged past China 5-4 via shootout to win the women's Asia Cup hockey title here on Sunday. With this, India also qualified for next year's World Cup as Continental champion.

It was skipper Rani Rampal who scored the winning goal while Savita Punia made a great save in sudden death.

Savita was adjudged Goalkeeper-of-the-Tournament while Monica won the Woman-of-the-Match award.

Final: India 1 (Navjot Kaur) bt China 1 (Tiantian Luo) in shootout.
Third place: Korea 1 (Hyejeong Shin) bt Japan 0.

ANSWER: BFI

Explanation:
The Indian Olympic Association (IOA) has granted affiliation to the Boxing Federation of India (BFI), ending a long-standing impasse between the two bodies.

As per the directives of the International Olympic Committee vide their letter dated February 7, the IOA grants affiliation to the BFI subject to ratification by the Executive Council/General Body of the IOA.

The affiliation ends a logjam that goes back to September last year when BFI took charge of the sport after elections conducted in the presence of International Boxing Association (AIBA) and sports ministry observers.

The IOA had initially refused to grant recognition to BFI stating that it still considered the now-defunct Indian Amateur Boxing Federation (IABF) as the official national body for the sport.

It had eventually referred the matter to its affiliation committee after persistent requests from the BFI.

With this, the BFI now becomes the fully recognised body for Indian boxing, having already been granted affiliation by AIBA and the sports ministry.

ANSWER: Both b and c

Explanation:

Sports Discipline	National Observer
Athletics	PT Usha Anju Bobby George
Archery	Dr Sanjeev Kumar Singh
Badminton	Aparna Popat
Boxing	Mary Kom Akhil Kumar
Hockey	Jagbir Singh
Shooting	Abhinav Bindra
Tennis	Somdev Devvarman
Weightlifting	Karnam Malleshwari
Wrestling	Sushil Kumar
Football	I M Vijayan
Swimming	Khajan Singh
Table Tennis	Kamlesh Mehta

Apart from providing inputs for their respective disciplines, the National Observers would also to be consulted as a group on cross cutting issues impacting sports development in the country.

The National Observers would be playing a key role in the implementation of action plans for Mission Olympics 2020, 2024 and 2028.

On 30 January 2017, the government constituted a Task Force to prepare an action plan for 2020, 2024 and 2028 Olympic games.

On 5 February 2017, the foundation stone of the boundary wall of the first-ever Centre of Excellence for differently-abled sportsmen was laid at Sector-25 in Gandhinagar, Gujarat.

On 10 February 2017, the Mission XI Million initiative was launched to promote football among school children.

On 14 March 2017, Hockey India announced the appointment of four new Scientific Advisors for men and women, both senior and junior teams.

ANSWER: Alibaba

Explanation:
Chinese e-commerce company Alibaba has become a major sponsor of the Olympic Games.

It has signed a deal with the International Olympic Committee that runs until 2028.

This is after joining The Olympic Partner (TOP) worldwide sponsorship programme.

At the Davos WEF, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and Alibaba Group announced the formation of a long-term partnership that will last through 2028.

As part of the new collaboration, Alibaba has become the official “Cloud Services” and “E-Commerce Platform Services” partner of the Olympics, as well as a Founding Partner of the Olympic Channel.

The company will support the global development of digital opportunities including the Olympic Channel.

Other major sponsors of the games are Coca-Cola, McDonald’s, and Visa.

This strategic partnership underlines the global appeal of the Olympic values and opens an exciting new chapter in this digital age.

Jack Ma: Know More

• Born: 10 September 1964
• Location: Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China
• Alma mater: Hangzhou Normal University, Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business (CKGSB)
• Occupation: Founder and Executive Chairman of Alibaba Group
• Net worth Increase: US$22 billion

ANSWER: Mariamma Koshy

Explanation:
Former Hockey player Mariamma Koshy on 25th Nov 2016 took charge of Hockey India as its president with immediate effect.

63-year-old Koshy succeeded Narinder Dhruv Batra as the first ever non European chief of the sport’s governing body International Hockey Federation.

Earlier in Nov 2016, Batra made history by becoming the first India and 15th FIH president. Batra served Hockey India as its secretary general from 2010 to 2014. He was serving as the organisation’s President since 2014.

Secretary General of Hockey India, Mohd Mushtaque Ahmed took over as chairman of the Hockey India League Governing Body.

Batra stepped down from his post due to election in the FIH. He cannot hold both posts Hockey India and FIH at the same time. He also resigned as chairman of the Hockey India League conceived in 2013

About “Hockey India”

• Governing body of field hockey in India
• Jurisdiction : Whole of India
• Abbreviation : HI
• Hockey India was founded in the year 2009
• It is affiliated to the International Hockey Federation
• Headquartered in New Delhi, India, its sponsor is Sahara India Pariwar

ANSWER: Both a and b

Explanation:
The first Jesse Owens Olympic Spirit Award will recognise the late legendary boxer Muhammad Ali.
Owens award was started in 2016

• It marks the 80th anniversary of Jesse Owen’s 4 gold medal performance at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin
• It is going to honour people who have served as an inspiration
• Granddaughter of the famous athlete Jesse Owens, Margaret Dotch will present the award at the next week’s Best of the Games award ceremony to Ali’s wife Lonnie
• Ali won the gold medal at the Rome 1960 Olympics
• He also took 3 world heavyweight championships in 1964, 1974 and 1978
• James Cleveland Jesse Owens was an American track and field athlete who crushed Hilterian myth of Aryan supremacy
• He was the most successful athlete at the games
• He set three world records and tied another in less than an hour at 1935 Big Ten Track meet in Ann Arbour Michigan, called the “greatest 45 minutes ever in sports”
• His record has never been equalled
• At the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, he won 4 gold medals including 100 and 200m long jump

ANSWER: 4

Explanation:
The bronze medal winner became the only Indian wrestler to be ranked in the top 10 of the United World Wrestling rankings.
She was the country’s first female Olympic medallist in the sport as well.

• Only two Indian male sportspersons made it to world top 20, with Sandeep Tomar ranked 15th in 57 kg category and Bajrang Punia in 18th place in 61 kg category
• Sakshi is an Indian freestyle wrestler born in September 1992
• She is part of the JSW Sports Excellence Program, along with fellow female wrestlers Vinesh Phogat, Babita Kumari and Geeta Phogat.
• Sakshi had previously won the silver at 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow and bronze medal at the Doha based 2015 Asian Wrestling Championships

ANSWER: Silver

Explanation:

• Indian wrestler Yogeshwar Dutt's bronze medal in men's 60kg freestyle category from the London Olympics has been upgraded to silver.
• The silver medallist from the 2012 Games.
• deceased Besik Kudukhov of Russia - has been stripped off his medal for using banned substance.
• With silver medal in bag, Yogeshwar will now join fellow Haryana wrestler Sushil Kumar as the second Indian silver medalist from the 2012 Olympics.
• Before the Rio Games, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) re-tested Kudukhov's sample, which was collected during the 2012 London Games. Samples are now stored for up to 10 years to use advanced testing methods to catch dope-tainted athletes.

ANSWER: Both b and c

Explanation:
Poland’s Olympic champion Anita Wlodarcyzk broke her world record in the hammer throw on 28th August with a throw of 82.98 metres in Warsaw.

• She set the new mark at Kamila Skolimowska Memorial Event at the Polish capital on a day where she had three throws over the 80m mark
• No other thrower has gone over 80m and Anita has won it 11 times in total
• 31 year old’s new record beats her previous best of 82.29m as she won the Olympic gold at Rio earlier in the month