- Prologue to six part Article series
- How much sports you need to prepare?
- Sport Mascots
- #1: Commonwealth Games 2014 (Glasgow)
- #2: Asian Games 2014 (Incheon)
- #3: Sochi Winter Olympics 2014
- #4: London Olympic 2012
- #5: National games
- Individual games
- #1: Tennis
- #2: Football FIFA 2014
- #3: Hockey: New format
- #4: Cricket
- #5: Badminton
- #6: Squash
- #7: Kabbadi
- #8: Shooting 2014
- #9: Chess
- #10: Billiards
- Awards
- #1: Laurius world sport awards 2014
- #2: Arjuna Award 2013
- National sports development code
- Unfortunate incidents
- Misc. sports
Prologue to six part Article series
Total six parts covering December 2013 to 8th June 2014- nearly six months that is the usual time span for current affairs most non-UPSC competitive exams of India.
- [PIN-2014] Part 1/6: National- Official Posts, Committees, Stamps-2014, Defense, Telengana & more
- [PIN-2014] Part 2/6: International- Presidents, Prime ministers, Summits, bodies & Ukraine Crisis
- [PIN-2014] Part 3/6: Sports, Mascots, Athletes, Awards, FIFA-2014, Sochi-2014, Grand Slams, Hockey, Kabbadi, Cricket & more
- [PIN-2014] Part 4/6: Economic Regulators, Banking Sector CMDs, RBI monetary policy, RBI Committees, Business GK CEOs
- [PIN-2014] Part 5/6: Books, Authors, Movies awards & Beauty Pageants
- [PIN-2014] Part 6/6: Diaspora, Civilian awards & Dead in News, Pravasi Bharatiya Diwas, Padma 2014, Able Prize & more
How much sports you need to prepare?
That depends on the level of exam. Observe the difference
Bank, SSC, Insurance, StatePSC exam |
CDS or CAPF (by UPSC) |
Q. Who won French Open 2014?
- Nadal
- Federer
- Wawrinka
- Djkovic
|
Q. Which of the following statement is / are correct about French open?
- in 2014, Rafael Nadal won this tournament by defeating David Ferrer
- After this victory, Nadal holds the record of highest grand slams.
- Both 1 and 2
- Neither 1 nor 2.
|
ans 1 |
ans 4 |
- A weak husband always shows “mardaangi” by beating up his wife. Same way, examiners harass competitive aspirants by asking Non-cricket questions. As if it is our fault that Indian junta doesn’t watch/respect non-cricket athletes! And as if an aspirant has (unwillingly) mugged up such list, he is a bigger patriot and better officer than cricket fans!
- Nonetheless, if you want the job, you’ve to study. Most candidates avoid / downplay the sport topic thinking this is boring, cost: benefit is bad.
- But if you prepare sports segment in a systematic manner, it is possible to tick atleast 1 MCQ in most (non-CSAT) exams without requiring much effort.
Just focus on the sport section in the monthly competitive magazines, and within that focus mainly on four areas:
- Who defeated whom in the final match?
- Current venue, and next venue
- Mascot
- Major Awards
Back in the 90s and upto mid-2000s, they even used to ask ‘theory’ question eg. which terms are associated with following game. although you can find such info in Lucent’s General knowledge book, but nowadays such sport-theory MCQs are not seen in most exams. so you may skip it.
Let’s start:
Sport Mascots

Game |
mascot |
venue |
FIFA 2014 |
Fuleco, the Armadillo |
Brazil |
Rabobank Hockey World cup |
Storkey the Stork |
Netherlands |
Winter Olympics 2014 |
Polar bear, Snow leopard and snow hare |
Sochi, Russia |
Common wealth games 2014 |
Clyde, a thistle man |
Glasgow, Scotland |
Asian games 2014 |
Light, Wind and Dance (Vichuon, Barame and Chumuro) |
Incheon, S.Korea |
#1: Commonwealth Games 2014 (Glasgow)
- will be held in July August
- Glasgow, Scotland
- Mascot: Clyde, a thistle man (thistle=one type of flowering plant)
- Motto: People, Place, Passion.
- Boxing: Mary Kom will not participate in this game because Pinki Jangra defeated her in selection match.
- Raj Singh (Dronacharya winner) will be Chef De Mission for CWG 2014
- Ravinder Singh Khaira- will participate in javelin throw.
#2: Asian Games 2014 (Incheon)
- Incheon, South Korea
- Theme “Diversity shines here”
Mascots
Vichuon |
light |
Barame |
Wind |
Chumuro |
dance |
#3: Sochi Winter Olympics 2014
- 22nd winter Olympics + 11th Winter Paralympics.
- Slogan– Hot cool yours.
- Venue: Sochi resort, Russia, near black sea coast.
- Mascots– Polar bear, Snow leopard and snow hare
- maximum gold medals: Russia> Norway> Canada
- Highest total medals: Russia > US > Norway
- Next Winter Olympic 2018: PyeongChang, South Korea. Motto New horizons.
India competed in three events but (As you can guess correctly) we won nothing:
Winter Olympic event |
Indian athlete who failed |
- Alpine skiing
|
Himanshu Thakur |
- Cross-country skiing
|
Nadeem Iqbal |
- Luge
|
Shiva Kesavan |
#4: London Olympic 2012
- 2020 (summer) Olympics will be held in Tokyo, Japan. Motto: Discover Tomorrow. and Wrestling is included.
- 2012 London Olympic topic is beyond expiry date but nonetheless we must remember the Indian winners
Gagan Narang |
Bronze. 10 air-rifle |
Mary Kom |
Bronze. Women flywt. Boxing |
Saina Nehwal |
Bronze. Single badminton |
Sushil Kumar |
Silver Wrestle 66kg. He was flag-bearer. He got bronze in 2008 Beijing. |
Vijay Kumar |
Silver. 25 rapid fire pistol. Rajiv G.Khel ratna |
Yogeshwar Dutt |
Bronze. 60kg wrestle. Rajiv G.Khel ratna. |
Indian Olympic Association
- Chairman N Ramachandran
- Secretary General Rajeev Mehta.
- 2019 Asian games Vietnam declined to host. Hence India interested to host this event
#5: National games
- National games are held once in every two years.
- 2009: 35th National games were to be held @Kerala
- but postponed because Kerala yet to finish building stadiums.
- In this context, SAI suggested two things to India Olympic Association
- scrap the national games altogether OR
- Hold this 35th tournament @SAI centers.
anyways, finally its decided to
Individual games
#1: Tennis
- Highest Grand Slams: Roger Federer (17); Nadal (14); Sampras (14); Paes: 8 doubles, 14 overall.
- Babolat Racquet: it has microchip & sensors to record player’s wrist movement. Nadal uses this hi-fi racquet to analyse his performance after match.
2014 Grand Slams
in chronological order:
Open |
Won |
defeated |
Australian |
Man: Stanislas Wawrinka (Swiz) |
Rafael Nadal (Spain) |
Woman: Li Na (China) |
some Slovakian girl, not important |
French (Red clay) |
- Rafael Nadal (Spain) won nine times.
- Stadium Roland Garros.
|
Novak Djokovic (Serbia) |
Maria Sharapova (Rus) fifth slam. |
some Romanian girl, not important |
Wimbledon (UK) |
Yet to be held (23 June). prize increased to 25 million pounds |
2013’s winner/losers not important. Non-UPSC exams don’t drag current affairs that far. |
US |
Yet to be held (26 Aug.) |
same as above. |
Vijay Amritraj: Davis Cup commitment award.
Misc. Tennis Championships:
(less important than grand slams)
Open 2014 |
Won |
defeated |
Dubai Open |
Federer |
some chillar party, not important.Important: Mahesh / Sania was 2013’s record. They won nothing in Dubai Open 2014. |
Venus Williams |
male Doubles: Rohan Bopanna + Aisam Qureshi (Paki) |
Monte Carlo |
Wawrinka, Swiz |
Federer, Swiz |
Chennai Open 2014 |
Wawrinka, Swiz |
some guy from France not important |
Qatar Open 2014 |
Nadal |
not important |
Shenzhen Open |
Li Na, China |
not important |
Madrid Masters |
Nadal |
Nishikori stopped playing because his back injury. |
#2: Football FIFA 2014
11 players each side. Yellow card = warning; Red card = Player dismissed.
Year |
Place |
Mascot |
Official Football |
Official Song |
2010 |
S.Africa |
Spain had defeated Netherlands in South Africa. other details not important. |
2014 |
Brazil (June-July) |
Fuleco, the Armadillo |
Brazuca |
We Are One (Ole Ola) |
2018 |
Russia |
yet to decide |
2022 |
Qatar |
allegations that Qatar paid bribes to win this nomination |
- Fifa 2014: Total 32 nations participating, 12 stadiums (India not included)
- Will use Goal line technology to determine ball had passed through goal line or not. Hawkeye Camera takes 500 pictures per second. Computer processes this data and if goal is made, message on Referee’s watch. German company “Goalcontrol” provides this service. (Hawk eye is separate company, photo below is only for showing concept).

football related current affairs
Bhaichung Bhutiya |
Contested Lok Shabha election from Trniamool ticket in Darjeeling but defeated. |
Duran Cup |
India’s oldest football tournament. Will be held in September 2014, Delhi. Last year’s champion not important. |
Federation cup |
Churchill brothers defeated Club de Goa, in Kochi. |
Golden Boot |
2012: Lionel Messi (Barcelona); 2013: Ronaldo and Suarez have combinedly won. 2014= somewhere in Nov/December. |
Santosh trophy 2014 |
Mizoram defeated railways. First victory by Mizoram. Santosh trophy named after king of Santosh region in Bangladesh. |
Shilton Paul |
Captain of Mohan Bagan team |
Sunil Chhetri |
AIFF player of 2013. |
#3: Hockey: New format
- by International Hockey Federation
- To make the game more interesting and attract young audience.
before reform |
after reform |
11 players |
same |
2 x 35 minutes |
4 x 15 minutes |
total 70 minutes |
total 60 minutes |
- 40-second break after every penalty corner and a goal
- Will be applicable to Champions trophy, world league, 2016 Rio Olympics and all other major tournaments.
Hockey related Current Affairs
Hero hockey world cup league |
Netherlands defeated NZ in New Delhi. |
Azlan Shah Cup 2014 |
Australia defeated Malaysia in Malaysia |
Hockey India League second edition |
Delhi defeated Punjab at Ranchi stadium. Jan 2014 |
Hockey world cup 2014 |
- Venue: The Hague, Netherlands. May June 2014
- Mascot: Stockey the stork
- Final match yet to come.
- Indian captain: Sardar Singh; unlikely to reach semi-finals because other teams scored higher.
|
India’s coach |
- National coach: Terry Walsh (Gets 12500$ salary per month)
- Jude Felix, former captain of Indian hockey team will assit him.
|
Indian female team |
Captain Ritu Rani (for Malaysia tour) |
Junior Hockey world cup |
Germany defeated France in Delhi Dec 2013. |
Sportcode |
Software used to analyses performance of Indian hockey players. |
#4: Cricket
ICC T20 world cup 2014
- theme song Char Chokka Hoi Hoi
- Venue Bangladesh
- March-April 2014
series |
won |
defeated |
Men’s |
Sri Lanka Captain Dinesh Chandimal (later injured so Lasit Malinga became captain). |
India Captain Dhoni (coach Duncan Fletcher) |
Women’s |
Aus. captain Meg Lanning |
England captain Charlotte Edwards |
ICC T20 Man of the series award
Male |
Virat Kohli, India. (and Man of the match was Sangakara) |
Female |
Anya Shrubsole, England |
For this ICC-T20 series, Indian Women’s team captain was Mithali Raj (and not Joolan Goswami)
Anyways, let’s move on:
Ashes |
Jan 2014: Australia defeated England in Australia |
Asia Cup 2014 |
Srilanka defeated Pakistan. Held at Bangladesh |
BCCI |
- President Shivlal Yadav (interim)
- President Sunil Gavaskar (For IPL);
|
Brijesh Patel |
director of national cricket academy . |
century |
Fastest century in Oneday=Corey Anderson, NZ (just 36 balls) |
Col.CK Naidu lifetime achievement |
Kapil Dev. Award by BCCI |
ICC |
chairman N Srinivasan. HQ: Dubai |
ICC 2013 award |
For records made up to August 2013 .Australian Cpt.Michael Clerk both Player of the year and Test cricketer of the year. Cheteswar Pujara: Emerging player. Sangakara ODI player. |
ICC 2014 awards |
Yet to come. |
ICC under 19 |
Africa defeated Pakistan |
IPL -7 (2014) |
Held at UAE and India. Kolkata defeated Punjab. |
Irani Cup |
Karnataka Defeated Rest of India. |
Justice Mudgal panel |
IPL spot fixing. now Saurav Ganguly also joined the panel. |
Kathy Cross |
first lady umpire to be named in ICC umpires panel. |
MAdav Mantri |
India’s oldest cricketer at 92. Died in May 2013. (maternal uncle of Sunil Gavaskar) |
Ranji 2014 |
Karnataka defeated Maharashtra at Hyderabad. |
Under Asia 19 cricket cup |
India defeated Pakistan |
Vijay Hazare 2014 |
Karnataka defeated railways. At kolkata. |
World Cup 2015 |
- Jointly hosted by Australia and New Zealand in February 2015.
- Two groups of Seven Teams
- Both India and Pakistan are in pool-B.
- India had won world cup 2011.
|
#5: Badminton
German Open |
Arvind Bhat, First Indian to win. Earlier gopichand only reached upto finals. |
Indian Badminton League |
- 2014 will be held in Sep-October
- 2013: Hyderabad hotshots defeated Awadh warriors.
|
Malaysian Grand prix |
- 2013: PV Sindhu had won women’s single
- 2014: no Indian player won anything. all medals to Indonesia, China and Singapore.
|
PV Sindhu |
- Macau open badminton. Dec 2013
- Won Arjuna award 2013
- won nothing in 2014-इसके सितारे अभी गर्दिश में है.
|
Saina Nehwal |
- won Syed Modi badminton
- won India Open Grand Prix 2014 by defeating PV Sadhu.
|
Thomas Cup 2014 (men only) |
- Held in Delhi. Japan won first time.
- Japan is the fourth Asian country to win (Indonesia, China, Malayasia are the other three.)
|
Uber Cup Badminton |
Held in Delhi. China won against Japan. |
#6: Squash
Joshna chinappa (Tamil) |
- won Winnipeg open squash 2014
- Richmond Open 2014
- also got Arjun Ratna 2013
|
Saurav Ghosal |
won Dato Alex Lee award for best Asian player 2013 |
#7: Kabbadi
Kabbadi league |
Players from Iran, Bangla, Japan, S.Korea, UK and India.Highest price: Rakesh Kumar. Patna Franchise bought him for 12.8 lakh rupees. |
Kabbadi World cup 2013 |
India defeated Pakistan in Ludhiana. Dec 2013 |
#8: Shooting 2014
Asian Championship 2014, Kuwait |
Hina Siddhu won gold in Air pistol. womenChain Singh won gold in Air Rifle. men |
ISSF world cup, Tucson USA |
Manavjeet Sandhu won gold |
#9: Chess
FIDE World Chess Championship |
Norway’s Magnus Carlsen defeated Vishwanath Anand in Chennai. Nov 2013 |
Asian continental |
B.Adhiban |
Candidates chess title, |
Anand won. held in Russia 2014. |
Kolkata open chess title |
Oliver Barbossa |
Zurich Chess challenge |
Magnus carlsen |
#10: Billiards
- Saurav Kothari: national championship
- Pankaj Advani has failed to win any major game in 2013-14 so far. उसके सितारे भी गर्दिश में है.
- Chitra Magimairaj won World women’s snooker
- Geet Sethi: 6 time world champion billiards player from Gujarat. Retired and runs NGO “Olympic Gold quest” to help Indian athletes along with Prakash Padukone.
Awards
#1: Laurius world sport awards 2014
- Sebatsian Vettel (German, race car driver)
- Missy Franklin (USA, swimmer)
- spirit of the sport: Afghan criket team
- come back: Nadal
- many other categories ignore for bad cost : benefit.
#2: Arjuna Award 2013
Many, but only listing important
- PV Sandhu: Badminton
- Gagan Jeet Bhullar: golf
- Joshna Chinnapa: Squash
- Amit Saroha: Para-athletics
- Anjum Saba: hockey
Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna |
Trap Shooter Ronjon Sodhi. |
Dronacharya 2013 |
for coaches. cost : benefit bad hence not listing name- except one “Raj Singh” (wrestling coach) will be chef de mission for CWG 2014, Glasgow. |
National sports development code
Delhi High court upheld this code while IOA was opposing it. (It diluted the autonomy of IOA)
Features:
- Sports bodies will come under RTI.
- more regulation and transparency .President of any NSF can hold office for a max period of 12 years (3 terms of 4 years).
- Secretary / treasurer for max of 2 successive terms of 4 years(min cooling period of 4 years).
Unfortunate incidents
Michel Schumacher |
Formula one race driver from Germany. Retired from game but in medical coma after skiing accident (2013) |
Ian Thorpe |
Olympic winner swimmer from Australia. Shoulder infection, may have to cut down the arm (2014) |
Amy Van Dyken |
American Olympic gold medalist swimmer. Paralyzed after a vehicle accident (June 2014). |
Misc. sports
- Indian Golfer Gaganjeet Bhullar won Indonesia Open.
- Grand Prix: UK’s Lewis Hamilton won GP in China, Bahrain and Malaysia; Nico Rosber won Canadian prix.
- Renjith Maheshwary- Triple jump athlete. He was declared for Arjuna award but before prize ceremony Govt. Refused him to confer Arjuna award. Supreme court refused to interfere in the matter.
- Mangyogdae: North Korea’s annual marathon. This time opened for entire world to participate.
- Boxing India: got provisional membership in International boxing federation. Vijender Singh and Mary Kom in the panel.
- Cycling:
- India’s first cycling championship: Northern Escape’s Manali Khardungla (July 2014)
- National Cycling academy: SAI opened at New Delhi.
- Oscar Pistorius: first disabled athlete to compete in regular Olympics (2012). Arrested for killing girlfriend in South Africa. Ball by ball commentary in newspapers not important.
- Los Angeles Clippers: this is a basketball team (similar to our IPL teams.) but its owner asked his girlfriend not to bring black people in the stadium. Hence racial-controversy, then owner’s wife sells the team to Microsoft ex-CEO Steve Ballmer.
For more current affairs, visit Mrunal.org/Current
Any updates, corrections please do post in the comments but with reference except wikipedia
Inputs from Mr. Chandradeo.
thank you sir .. !!
do you ever read d comments at all? i previously mailed to meet you
ICC T20 men
Sri Lanka Caption= Malinga
in tournament -> chandimal (later injured)
in final match(last 3 matches) -> malinga
Thanks for review
In final match Malinga was caption.
@saurabh– mrunal reads all the comments and replies only to the relevant queries. Meeting u or any of the candidate is not relevant to him or any of us. And why do u want to meet him.? He is already doing his work here which is good.
Sir
winning match caption =?
here we consider Dinesh Chandimal OR Malinga
if both r given
2009 National games??? or 2014 National games being Held at Kerala…
http://www.35thnationalgames.in/
unfortunately being a great footballer doesnt guarantee a job here
MOM- K.Sangakara
Player of Tournament – Virat kohli
ICC T20 WC
MOM- K.Sangakara
Player of Tournament – Virat kohli
you are outstanding.
sir that goal line technology you explained is absolutely right….but it will be provided by GOAL CONTROL-which is a german company and not HAWK EYE -which is an english company……although hawk eye provides in barclays premier league
Corrections
1. German Company goalcontrol provides the goal line technology in FIFA-2014.
2. ICC T20: Chandimal was Sri Lankan captiain but later Malinga became the captain.
Regarding national games venue
35th National Games in Kerala were originally scheduled to be held in 2009. However, due to the backlog of previous Games the event had to be postponed (ref. Indianexpress March 2014 click me)
Now 35th National games will be held next year (2015) in Kerala. (Ref Hindu June 2014)
Thanks everyone for your inputs.
I am very pleasure to express my thought here after reading this site I got lot of knowledge I am really thanks
Sir , in 2013 cpf they assked all england badminto championship
Does it nessasary to remember almost every event..
try to remember all major events. and even with best preparation it is not possible to tick 100 out 100, nor it is necessary to tick all questions to get selected.
Mrunal, Messi won Golden boot for 2012-13 season. For 2013-14 seasons Ronaldo and Suarez have combinedly won.
corrected thanks cmvt
sir,
Ranji 2014
Final: Karnataka v Maharashtra at
Hyderabad (Deccan) – Jan 29-Feb 2, 2014
not karnataka v hyderabad
Corrected. Thanks Sagar
Hey Mrunal ! your blog is just outstanding…actually it kindled me to prepare for PSC….I am glad I found your blog
The name of that unimportant Romanian girl[French Open] was asked in SBI PO exam :) Life is so uncertain
Awesome blog
Brisbane international 2014
women- sarena william bt victoria azarenka
men-Lleyton hewitt(australia) bt roger federer
Pattaya open 2014(women’s tournament)
Ekaterina makarovo(russia) bt karolina plikova(czech republic)
Sayad modi india Grand prix Gold Badminton crown
won Saina Nehwal
sir please suggest how to(syllabi,method,important topics etc..) prepare for the IB-ACIO exam.
nothing specl prep. yaar … just keep studying syllbs of upsc ..nd 1 thing focus on world histry nd eco. section … try to do 70+ correct answrs in 1 hr. keep last 20-25 min for writing essay in 300 wrds which is must for qualifying xam … btw …last yr i had qualified …bt didnt likd job profl ..so ….
Asian games 2018- Jakarta (Indonesia), Originally hanoi(Vietnam) was chosen as the host, however they withdrew due to the financial constraints.