Sports - General Knowledge Questions

Correct Answer :   Max Verstappen

Defending Formula One champion "Max Verstappen" enters the mid-season break in unstoppable form, after emphatically winning the Belgian Grand Prix on Sunday (30 July 2023) for an eighth straight win and 10th overall of a crushingly dominant season.

Despite starting from sixth place he finished 22.3 seconds ahead of teammate Sergio Perez to give Red Bull an easy 1-2. It moved Verstappen ominously closer to a third straight world title and his own F1 record of 15 wins from last year.

Verstappen is 125 points ahead of Perez after just 12 races, and his next target is matching Sebastian Vettel’s F1 record of nine straight wins with a victory at the Dutch GP when the lopsided season resumes on Aug. 27. “I just want to have a nice time now, have a bit of time with family and friends,” Verstappen said.

Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc finished in third spot for a third podium of the season, with Lewis Hamilton in fourth for Mercedes ahead of Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso.

George Russell was sixth for Mercedes, with Lando Norris (McLaren), Esteban Ocon (Alpine), Lance Stroll (Aston Martin), and Yuki Tsunoda (AlphaTauri) completing the top 10.

Leclerc started on pole ahead of Perez, with Hamilton and Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz Jr. behind them. McLaren rookie Oscar Piastri was on the next row alongside Verstappen — who was fastest in Friday’s qualifying but took a five-place grid penalty for a gearbox change and had to avoid early traffic.

“It was just about surviving turn one. I could see it was all getting really tight,” Verstappen said. “I’ve been in that position before myself so I am just going to stay out of that and it worked out. From there onwards I made the right overtakes.”

Last year (2022) Verstappen won from 14th, and once he overtook Perez on Lap 17 of 44 his 45th career win was seemingly inevitable.

“Really enjoyable to drive once I got in the lead,” Verstappen said. “It was again a great race.“

Red Bull extended its record to 13 straight wins, including the final race of last season.

Hamilton came in on the penultimate lap for a tire change and the move paid off as he took the bonus point for fastest lap from Verstappen — a very minor blip for the dominant Dutchman.

It was yet another stellar weekend for Verstappen, who also won Saturday’s sprint race. The only issue was some more bickering with his race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase over radio, as they continued their spat from Friday’s qualifying.

“Don’t forget Max, use your head, please,” Lambiase told Verstappen when he questioned why Perez was making his first tire change on Lap 14.

Verstappen defused any talk of tension with Lambiase..

Source : Outlook India

Correct Answer :   Sangampreet Singh and Avneet Kaur

In a remarkable display of talent and skill, Sangampreet Singh Bisla and Avneet Kaur emerged as the compound archery champions at the 31st World University Games in Chengdu, China on Monday (31st July 2023).

India has achieved its highest-ever tally in the sport, securing three gold, one silver, and three bronze medals in the prestigious event.

India has garnered a total of 9 gold, 3 silver, and 5 bronze medals, securing an impressive fourth position in the overall medal standings.

3️⃣ more 🏅for 🇮🇳 at the 31st World University Games, #Chengdu✅

🇮🇳 Archer and #KheloIndia Athlete Avneet Kaur wins 🥇as she defeats American Sturgill in thrilling Shoot-Off after being tied 144 a piece in the Compound Women's 🏹 Final🔥👌

This is her 2️⃣nd medal at #Chengdu 👍… pic.twitter.com/bKrk6liLJ7

— SAI Media (@Media_SAI) July 31, 2023

China leads the table with 17 gold, 4 silver, and 4 bronze medals, followed by Korea with 10 gold, 10 silver, and 4 bronze medals, and Japan with 10 gold, 6 silver, and 7 bronze medals.

The gold medals for India all came in the compound section, with Bisla winning the men's individual title, Avneet clinching the women's individual gold, and the mixed team of Saini and Pragati claiming victory in their category.

Adding to their triumph, the Indian compound archery team also secured a silver medal in the women's team event with Avneet, Purvasha Shinde, and Pragati putting up an impressive performance.

In addition to the gold and silver medals, the compound archers from India also secured two bronze medals, one in the men's team event with Rishabh Yadav, Saini, and Bisla, and the other in the men's individual category with Saini's outstanding performance.

However, the recurve archers from India faced some disappointment, managing to secure only one bronze medal in the women's team event with Sangeeta, Tanisha Verma, and Reeta Sawaiyan.

Bisla displayed remarkable composure in the men's individual compound final, edging out Christian Beyers de Klerk of South Africa with a score of 149-147 to claim the gold medal. Bisla had earlier triumphed in a thrilling semifinal shoot-off against his compatriot Saini, with both archers tied at 147 points after the regulation five rounds..

Source : Times of India

Correct Answer :   Iga Swiatek

Polish Player "Iga Swiatek" secured her fourth Women’s Tennis Association title of the year 2023 by defeating Germany’s Laura Siegemund  in Warsaw.

Iga Swiatek cruised to the title in her home tournament, the Warsaw Open with a 6-0, 6-1 victory over exhausted Laura Siegemund on Sunday (30 July 2023). The world No. 1 completed two busy days by sweeping aside her German opponent in 68 minutes for a second victory of the day.

"I wanted to put it all in and go for it. I'm pretty happy that I did," Swiatek said in her winner's speech. The rain delays in the tournament meant Swiatek started Friday by playing her quarter-final and ended it by starting her semi-final against Yanina Wickmayer.

She led 5-1 in the second set and had three match points before the Belgian fought back. Play was halted with the match finely balanced.

On Sunday(30 July 2023), Wickmayer won a fifth straight game and reached deuce on Swiatek's serve. The Pole wasted two more match points in the tiebreak before clinching a 6-1, 7-6 (8/6) victory.

In the final, Swiatek won the first nine games and never faced a break point as she overpowered the unseeded German.

"It's not easy to play in Warsaw, but I'm so happy that we could manage and do everything we could today, after a pretty tiring day yesterday," Swiatek said.

Siegemund had spent more than six hours on court on Saturday as she beat Lucrezia Stefanini and then compatriot Tatjana Maria, both in three sets, to reach a first final since 2017..

Source : NDTV

Correct Answer :   14

Indian contingent finished their Sri Lanka Athletics National Championships 2023,  30th July 2023 with 14 medals including 9 gold, 4 silvers and a bronze.

Indian athletes clinched six medals on the final day of the event at the Sugathadasa Stadium in Colombo.

The Indian 4x400 meter mixed relay team of Amoj Jacob, Aishwarya Mishra, Muhammed Anas and Himanshi Malik won the first gold medal of the day.

The event also featured a second Indian relay team comprising Nihal Joel William, Subha Venkatesan, Mijo Chacko Kurian and Vithya Ramraj, who bagged the silver medal.

Amoj Jacob, an Asian Athletics Championships gold medallist, then teamed up with Muhammed Anas, Rajesh Ramesh and Muhammed Ajmal to secure the gold medal in the 4x400 meter men’s relay event.
 
In the 4x400 meter women's relay event, the Indian quartet of Sonia Baishya, Aishwarya Mishra, Subha V and Himanshi Malik bagged the gold medal.

Interestingly, in the same event, Olympian Jisna Mathew and Vithya Ramraj of India teamed up with Sri Lanka’s WS Himaya Fernando and K Shanika Lakshani to come in third. India's T Santhosh Kumar also finished first in the men's 400 meter hurdles.

India’s javelin thrower Kishore Kumar Jena, who won the gold medal on Friday, was awarded the Best Male Thrower trophy..


Source : AIR

Correct Answer :   Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar

Indian shooters and archers bagged six medals including four golds at the World University Games in Chengdu, China 31st July 2023.

Shooters Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar, Divyansh Singh Panwar and Arjun Babuta joined forces to outclass local favourites China to win the 10m air rifle men’s team gold. Aishwary also secured gold in the 10m air rifle men’s individual event.
 

Avneet Kaur pipped USA’s Alyssa Grace Sturgill in a thrilling shoot off to clinch the compound women’s individual gold.

Sangampreet Bisla and Aman Saini clinched the gold and bronze medals in the men’s individual event.

India have won 17 medals, 9 gold, 3 silver and 5 bronze, and are second in the tournament.

Hosts China lead the standings with a haul of 21 medals..

Source : AIR

Correct Answer :   HDFC Bank

Swiggy, a popular food delivery platform, has collaborated with HDFC Bank to launch a co-branded credit card. This move follows the trend of various ecommerce platforms partnering with banks to introduce similar credit cards.

The Swiggy-HDFC co-branded credit card will be facilitated by Mastercard’s payment network. The primary aim of this partnership is to enhance customer retention and increase the average order value on the Swiggy platform by providing enticing benefits to cardholders.

Key features of the Swiggy co-branded credit card include :

Cashback on Swiggy platform :

* Cardholders will receive a 10% cashback for transactions made on the Swiggy platform.
* This cashback is applicable for spends related to food delivery, quick commerce grocery delivery, and dining out.


Cashback on major ecommerce platforms :

* Additionally, the card offers a 5% cashback on purchases made on prominent ecommerce platforms.
* These platforms include Amazon, Flipkart, Myntra, Nykaa, Ola, and branded fashion websites like Nike, H&M, Adidas, Zara, and others.

Correct Answer :   Aditya Samant

Aditya Samant became India’s 83rd Grandmaster after earning his third GM norm at the Master Tournament (MTO) in the Biel International Chess Festival 2023.

The Maharashtra player had earned his first norm to become a grandmaster at the Abu Dhabi Masters in August  2022

To become a GM, a player has to secure three GM norms and cross the live rating of 2,500 Elo points and his live rating going into the ninth round game is 2525.4.

He secured his second GM norm at the 3rd El Llobregat Open in December 2022.

BREAKING News: Aditya Samant becomes India's 83rd Grandmaster

IM Aditya S Samant became India's 83rd Grandmaster when he started his 9th round game against Aryan Chopra at the #BielChess MTO 2023. Drawing his 8th round game against Bu Xiangzhi, all Aditya needed to achieve his… pic.twitter.com/EG986RAmWD

— ChessBase India (@ChessbaseIndia) July 26, 2023

Correct Answer :   Syazrul Ezat Idrus

Malaysia seamer Syazrul Ezat Idrus on Wednesday (26th July 2023) scripted history in ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2024 Asia Regional Qualifier B tournament, becoming the first player to record a seven-wicket haul in a Men's T20I game.

* Idrus dismantled China's batting set-up to end with the figure of 7-8.

* Riding on his stellar showing with the ball, his team posted a comfortable 8-wicket victory at Bayuemas Oval.

* Only 12 bowlers had previously claimed six-wicket hauls in a Men's T20I. The list includes the India duo of Deepak Chahar and Yuzvendra Chahal, Australia left-arm spinner Ashton Agar and veteran Sri Lankan off-break bowler Ajantha Mendis.

* Idrus, on Wednesday (26th July 2023), became the first bowler to scalp 7 wickets in the game's shortest format.

* The pitch aided Idrus' bowling style, picking up all of his seven wickets by castling batters.

* His heroics with the ball saw China shot out for just 23 runs in 11.2 overs.

* In reply to China's 23, Malaysia lost two quick wickets before chasing down the target in the fifth over.

* The winner of this tournament will feature in the Asia Regional Final in Nepal in November, with the two leading teams from that event making it through to the T20I World Cup 2024.

Source : Times Now News

Correct Answer :   Harmanpreet Kaur

India captain "Harmanpreet Kaur" has been suspended for her team’s next two international games, after she smashed the stumps and verbally lashed out at the umpires, following two separate breaches of the ICC Code of Conduct during the third match of their ICC Women’s Championship series against Bangladesh in Dhaka on Saturday.

The suspension means that she will be missing two matches in the upcoming Asian Games in September-October in Hangzhou, China.

Kaur's frustration became evident when she was given out on  on 14, prompting her to vent her anger by hitting the stumps. Following the match, she publicly criticised the umpiring,  branding it as "pathetic."

"Kaur was fined 50 per cent of her match fee and three demerit points were added to her disciplinary record for a Level 2 offence after she was found guilty of breaching article 2.8 of the ICC Code of Conduct for Players and Player Support Personnel, which relates to “showing dissent at an umpire’s  decision," an ICC media statement read.

Kaur was also fined 25 per cent of her match fee for a Level 1 offence after she was found guilty of breaching article 2.7, which relates to “public criticism in relation to an incident occurring in an international match”..

Source : Times of India

Correct Answer :   Annu Rani and Kishore Jena

India’s Annu Rani and Kishore Jena won the gold medal in the men’s and women’s javelin throw events, respectively, at the Lebanon Athletics Championships 2023 in Beirut on Friday (21st July 2023).

Indian javelin throwers dominated Lebanon national championship held in Beirut in evening today. Kishore Jena (78.96m) was winner in the men's event, while Annu Rani (55.32m) won gold in the women's event. Shivpal won silver (73.34m) in men's event. pic.twitter.com/mt1jx3I0Fn

— Athletics Federation of India (@afiindia) July 21, 2023

Annu Rani recorded a best throw of 55.32m to top the six-woman field. Her effort, though, was far from her national record-setting mark of 63.82m, achieved last year.

In four competitions since the Commonwealth Games 2022 in Birmingham, where she won the bronze, Annu Rani has not crossed the 60m mark.

Annu Rani’s distance at Lebanon, however, was more than double of what silver medallist Lynn Nader (26.48m) managed.

In the men’s event, Kishore Jena hurled the spear 78.96m to win the gold. His personal best is 82.87, achieved in Bhubaneshwar last month.

Tokyo 2020 Olympian Shivpal Singh won the silver with a 73.34m throw, a modest effort compared to his personal best of 86.23m achieved at the 2019 Asian championships in Doha.

Seven men competed in the men’s javelin event. Nabil Al-Akoumi was third with 59.79m

Tokyo Olympics champion Neeraj Chopra holds India’s national record in men’s javelin throw courtesy his 89.94m mark, registered at the 2022 Stockholm Diamond League in Sweden..

Source : Olympics