Quiz time again !!

Prologue: A dry spell loomed in the arena of television quiz shows after the end of Sports Ka Superstar, a sports quiz show on DD. This show specially crafted to enthuse audience before Delhi CWG 2010 kindled abundant interest in me on topics related to sports trivia and I enjoyed every episode thoroughly.

KBC season 4 cast away this dry spell and renewed my television interests. The new season of KBC has Big B - Amitabh Bachchan donning the role of a host. It commenced on Oct 11, 2010 - Big B's 68th birthday. The show is aired on Sony TV, every Mon-Thurs from 9-10pm.

There are minor changes to the format -

1) 50-50 lifeline does not exist anymore. There's an expert advise lifeline instead.

2) A double dip lifeline (4th one) comes into existence when a participant crosses Rs 3,20,000 mark. The contestant is bound to play if he/she chooses to use this lifeline and cannot quit. This lifeline allows a contestant to answer twice to a question.

3) The number of questions has fallen to 12 from earlier 15.

4) An additional jackpot question for Rs 5 crores appears when one has won 1 crore.

5) Questions 1-6 (Rs 5000 - Rs 1,60,000) are timed. The time limit is 30 sec for questions 1 and 2, 45 sec for others. The timer stops when a lifeline (audience poll, phone a friend, ask the expert) is used. Questions 7-13 do not have any associated timeline.

6) The show has a new logo that bears the new rupee symbol.

The creative head/director remains the same for this season - Mr.Siddartha Basu. I am sure every Indian student will attribute a share of his/her interest in quiz/trivia to this great guy. Amitabh Bachchan, unquestionably, is the biggest strength of this show. His immense and unparalleled fan following, his poignant personality, his powerful diction in crisp, baritone voice, his affable manners, his decent and enjoyable sense of humor remain the erstwhile ingredients for making the show a huge success. The show has revived my quiescent interests in quizzing, driven me to buy a copy of the first official edition of KBC Quiz Book. This post is a brief note on the book and its contents.

The book and its overview:

Donning a brilliant blue cover, published by Rupa and Co, priced at Rs 95 per copy, Kaun Banega Crorepati - The Official Book, edited and compiled by quizmaster Siddartha Basu, on stands, in the Reliance Timeout Store, Cunningham Road, Bangalore, attracted my attention. The book begins with a Foreword written by Big B, he quotes two lines penned by his father, reiterates the spirit of human nature and endorses the fact that there are many questions each one of us face and no question is small - Koi bhi sawaal chotta nahin hota. The preface section by the quizmaster hands out a token of thanks to all who have contributed to the questions set. He writes to stress the popularity of the TV show given that it formed the baseline of the Oscar winning movie - Slumdog Millionaire, conceived from the novel - Q&A by Vikaas Swarup.

The book has 100 questions in Fastest Finger First section, 120 each in Rs 5000 section Rs.10,000 section, 100 questions in Rs 20,000 section, 90 in Rs 40,000 section, 80 questions each in Rs 80,000, Rs 1,60,000, Rs 3,20,000 and Rs 6,40,000 sections, 45 questions in Rs 12,50,000 section, 40 questions each in Rs 25,00,000 and Rs 50,00,000 sections and a set of 15 questions in the final, big, Rs 1 Crore section. The questions in different sections procuring increasing money rewards are of increasing complexity. Answers to all questions are provided in the book for reference. The book facilitates its readers to play the game - KBC with its questions as options like audience poll and 50:50 find suggestions/stats in the end of the book.

My Review:

I would'nt say that this official book of KBC will help one in getting to the hot seat, the writers of this book too do not lay the claim. Also, it is not the exhaustive compilation of trivia and quiz questions. If you expect the complexity of questions in this book to be in tandem with Siddartha Basu's Mastermind TV quiz show, then you will be terribly let down.

Upon reading through its contents, I suggest, this book is apt for anyone interested in KBC and in quizzing - it is a fun exercise. I loved it thoroughly. The book is a good read during travel/lone time and even at home when with a group of like minded friends/children/elders.

The book, definitely, offers many things for us to learn and remember and the question set compiled in here is no cakewalk. After all, koi bhi sawaal chotta nahin hota - no question is small.

Sports Ka Superstar - Grand Finale

My favorite sports quiz show came to an end yesterday - 20/09/2010. After the last semi final on 13th Sept, I was eagerly expecting the finals on 15th as the quiz show is aired on Mon/Wed every week. But that day, on DD National, a show on All India Radio was telecast during the quiz slot 10 - 11 pm. A mixed reaction, one of ennui and confusion resulted, "Why no quiz today, if not today, then when is the finale?"
The question snowballed into an unsolved mystery as Internet searches did not yield desired results and Times of India newspaper does not tabulate DD national daily program schedule.
To make matters and my fear worse, KPL started in Bangalore from Sept 16th and our cable operator conveniently replaced DD National with a certain Udhaya Kannada Varthagalu in the evenings to telecast ongoing KPL matches LIVE. My husband and I, after a couple of phone calls to our cable operator, topped it with two visits to his office requesting him to restore DD national channel. Our dogged fondness for the show took us to the cable operators' office for one last time at 9 pm yesterday, a fervant attempt to remind him of the indispensable channel restoration. Success !! and he reinstated the lost channel. The clock struck 10 and Mini Mathur, along with Shera, the mascot for CWG 2010, appeared on the sets of the show with a battalion of ten, brilliant finalists.

Atul Nath qualified to the podium and contested with P Sarin in challenger rounds for the title of Sports Ka Superstar that carried cash prize of Rs 3 lakhs and a trophy as honors. Sarin turned out victorious at the end of the final buzzer round.

I was highly excited yesterday for reasons below -
1) this quiz show has been on our regular must-watch list for over two months and it was good to see the sports trivia bigwigs battle it out
2) we would have missed the finale by a whisker if not for the timely, personal reminder from my husband and quick/polite response from the operator

Without further ado, containing my excitement, I list down the questions from the Sports Ka Superstar Grand Finale (dated 20/09/2010) below - (please refer to the comments section, a comment from me for answers)

Sports Ka Superstar Grand Finale Questions
1) What trophy is given to the winner of World Men’s Team Badminton Championship?
2) Which Dutch footballer is nicknamed the “Non flying Dutchman” because of his aviophobia?
3) Name the first Indian woman to become a finalist at the Summer Olympic games.
4) Which country’s President is a former weightlifter and winner of seven Commonwealth Games gold medals?
5) Which athlete currently holds the world record for women in 100m and 200m races?
6) In the world championship of which sport is Richard Bergmann Fair Play award given?
7) When did beach volleyball make its debut in Summer Olympic games?
8) Name the only Indian to score a hat trick in football at Olympic Games.
9) Name the Australian athlete who won gold in 400m event in Sydney Olympics in 2000 (visual q modified)
10) Name this legendary middle distance runner who after retirement took to politics, headed the London bid to get the right to host Summer Olympics in year 2012 (visual q modified)
11) Name the current president of FIFA (visual q modified)
12) Name this swimmer turned film actor who is best known for portraying Tarzan (visual q modified)
13) The basketball shooting technique called Skyhook became a trademark of which player?
14) Name the last event in decathlon
15) Name the first recipient of Rajiv Gandhi Khel Rathna award
16) Which Indian cricketer has also played Davis Cup?
17) Name the event for males for which the female counterpart is 100 m hurdles (visual q modified)
18) Name the legendary athlete who won gold in 400m hurdles in 1976 and 1984 (visual q modified)
19) Name the gymnastics event that includes jumping on a taut cloth surface (visual q modified)
20) Apart from athletics, aquatics, wrestling, boxing, lawn bowls, which other game featured in the first edition of CWG?
21) Who is the first double centurion in women’s ODI cricket?
22) In 1997, a head to head 150m race was held to determine the world’s fastest man, this was between Michael Johnson and which other athlete?
23) Shiva Keshavan represented India in which sport in Winter Olympics?
24) Who is the first Indian to reach the semifinals of Wimbledon Men’s singles?
25) Name the famous race held on the Thames river between Putney and Chiswick
26) Cricket, my style is a book from which cricket captain?

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Sports Ka Superstar - More Questions

The semi final episodes are drawing to a close, there's just one more round before we BANG onto the grand finale of the sports quiz Sports Ka Superstar. Yesterday's episode had a mixed bag of questions, some easy, some difficult, not a very high scoring episode. Also, some contestants like Ramki, Pranav and Arun Hiregange, more adept in quizzing, slipped from becoming the "awesome twosome" by a hairline margin. In my opinion, the two selected from this episode, especially the winner - Gaurav from Bangalore, will face the heat with the rest at the grand finale.

I decided to list down the questions of yesterday's show (dated 08/09/2010) in a new post, I had some problems formatting the contents of the earlier post. Guess it ran above the prescribed/manageable length.

Set 4: (Questions from the episode dated 08/09/2010 + 8 questions from prelims episodes, answers to this appear as my comment - refer comment 1 of the comments section to this post)

1) Which one of these games does not have a goalkeeper – polo, water polo, football, hockey?
2) At 2004 Athens Olympics, which athlete broke the 400m national record made by Milkha Singh in 1960 Rome Olympics?
3) Crocodile hold, elephant stance, charging elephant are all skills employed in which sport?
4) Which country’s national football team bears the nickname – Bafana Bafana?
5) Name the only Olympic medalist from Namibia who holds the current CWG record for 200m, a record since 1994.
6) With which team did Michael Schumacher make his formula one debut?
7) What is the “bull taming” sport in Tamil Nadu known as?
8) Name the strongest female chess player in history who became the grandmaster at the age of 15 years 4 months. (visual q modified)
9) Name the French footballer of Indian origin who made his debut for the French national team in the year 1999. (visual q modified)
10) Which edition of CWG is known as the “boycott” games?
11) The player who hit the fastest century in Indian Premier League.
12) Name the sport that is played with two kinds of balls – “kitty” and “woods”
13) Name this Swedish athlete just behind Jackie Joyner Kersie in the all time heptathlon points list (visual Q modified)
14) Name the gold medal winner in 2004 Athens Olympics – women’s singles tennis (visual Q modified)
15) Name the first woman sportsperson to receive the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award
16) Name the first recipient of the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award
17) Name the sporting organization founded on 23rd June 1937 in Army HQ at Shimla
18) In Durand cup, currently, the winning team is presented with two other trophies, name them.
19) In 2010 Wimbledon, John Isner and Nicolas Mahut played the longest ever tennis match, how long did this match last?
20) Name the first woman to have run the entire Boston Marathon.
21) Name the South African band that featured along with Shakira in 2010 FIFA anthem – Waka Waka
22) Name the first Indian in NASCAR
23) Name the president of Rajasthan Cricket Association from 2005-2009
24) Name the players of the very popular/successful men’s tennis doubles team from Australia which bore the nickname “The Woodies”
25) Which major mishap is associated with the Tamburello corner?
26) Who is nicknamed as the “The Flying Sikh”?
27) In the name Jeev Milkha Singh, Jeev is the shortened form of what?
28) To whom did Milkha Singh lose the Bronze medal by a whisker in the fateful 400m run in 1960 Rome Olympics?
29) Who threw his Olympic medal into the Ohio River after a feud with a whites gang and after being refused service at a whites restaurant?
30) Name the player who received two golds in CWG for lawn bowls and was inducted to Scottish Sports Hall of Fame in 2007?

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The last round of semi finals happened yesterday - 13/09/2010. With just 20 days more for the CWG at Delhi, the concern of a neat display is a perennial high - first over corruption, money laundering, completion of venues on time, then on health aspects as the number of dengue cases are skyrocketing by the day, most recently on warnings from host nation government officials on an impending terror strike during the games. As a nation, we all are on tenterhooks, waiting to see events unfold from Oct 3-14, 2010. Not digressing further, I have updated a set of 40 questions (26 from yesterday's show and rest from previous episodes, after a gruelling memory exercise :)). The questions in yesterday's show mostly dealt with Olympic events, the questions I recollected from past episodes are more CWG centric.

Please find the answers to the questions below as a comment (comment 2) from me in the comments section. Happy Quizzing !!

Set 5:

1) Which of these events will be a part of the Delhi CWG? 50km walk, 20 km walk, pentathlon, bicycle motocross
2) The term steeplechase derives its name from which sport?
3) Which team won the Ranji Trophy in the year 2009-10?
4) Which game originated at Melrose, Scotland in 1880s when a local butcher Ned Haig organized it for fund raising for a sporting club?
5) Which city did Delhi beat by 46 votes to 22 to win the right to host 2010 CWG?
6) Ippon, Koka, Yuko, Waza-ari are four scores in which sport?
7) Who is the only tennis player to have won all the 4 grand slams and an Olympic gold medal in the men’s singles?
8) Which city has hosted the Asian games maximum number of times?
9) In which Olympics, did Leander Paes win the bronze medal for men’s singles, becoming the second Indian to win an Olympic medal in an individual event?
10) Name the Ukrainian heavyweight boxer who is the current IBO, WBO, IBF and Ring Magazine champion of the world. (visual Q modified)
11) Name the legendary baseball player who bears the nickname “Sultan of Swat” and “The Bambino” (visual Q modified)
12) What is the title of Dhyan Chand’s autobiography?
13) In 2010 FIFA world cup, Jerome Boateng represented Germany, which country did his half brother Kevin Prince Boateng represent?
14) Who defeated Bobby Riggs in the widely publicized match called the “Battle of Sexes” in the year 1973?
15) Which Bollywood actor represented Indian in cycling?
16) Name the Czech long distance runner nicknamed as “Czech Locomotive” who won gold s for 5000m , 10000m and marathon in 1952 Helsinki Olympics. (visual Q modified)
17) Name the first woman athlete to have won 6 Olympic gold medals. (visual Q modified)
18) Name the athlete who holds the record for 1500m middle distance track event (visual Q modified)
19) In which Olympic Games did women compete in weightlifting event for the first time?
20) Kalenjin tribe, the running tribe, known for long distance running skills belongs to which country?
21) Ever Onward is the motto of which sporting event/games?
22) Name the Olympian who was diagnosed with Polio at the age of 7 but accumulated 10 golds over 4 games.
23) The athletes of which country were taken hostage/murdered during the 1972 Munich Olympics?
24) In which sport did Jonty Rhodes represent South Africa apart from cricket?
25) Which five time US open men singles champion is also the youngest to win the title?
26) Which sport was demonstrated by the Hanuman Vyayam Prasarak Mandal in the 1936 Berlin Olympics?
27) Which athlete was forced to leave Munich (1972) before closing ceremony of the Olympic Games for the fear that he should not be targeted by the Palestinian gunmen?
28) Which sport is locally known as Hu-Tu-Tu or Chaduguddu in different regions of India?
29) Where did the first edition of CWG take place?
30) Who marches first in the Parade of Athletes in the CWG?
31) Who hosted the games under the name Commonwealth Games for the first time?
32) When and where did the Commonwealth Games take place for the first time in Asia?
33) The CWG held in 1962 were also known for “heat, dust and glory” for the inhospitable weather conditions. Where was this edition of the games held?
34) Name the first black African to win a gold medal Olympics, who clinched the gold (1960 Rome Olympics) in marathon event running barefoot.
35) Name the Indian athlete who failed the gender test and was stripped off her silver medal of 2006 Asian games.
36) Who remained not out in the innings when Kumble picked up all 10 wickets in the test innings in the year 1999?
37) Who won the Orange Cap for the IPL held in 2010?
38) In which edition of Olympic games did Agassi win the gold in men singles, managing to complete a career golden slam?
39) Name the legendary figure in Indian motorsports who died in an air crash while flying a trainers aircraft

40) Which of the following is not related with Cricket? Deodhar trophy, Irani trophy, Shimla trophy, Ranji trophy

Sports Ka Superstar

For the last two months, I have been hooked to a certain quiz show on Doordarshan channel - Sports ka Superstar. This is a sports quiz produced by BIG Synergy productions (Siddhartha Basu), anchored by Mini Mathur and Shera (the mascot for Delhi CWG 2010).

The sports quiz puts forth a great collection of questions, with multiple choice (4 choices) and buzzer, visual/direct (without choice/shootout) variants. Ten participants contest each time, with only 2 qualifying at the end of the show to the next round. The quiz show aired on DD on Mondays and Wednesdays at 10pm, has so far, handpicked 50 sports whizkids out of 25 episodes. The contest is now, on between these 50 players for selection to finals, with already 2 clearing the semi final hurdle on 30th Aug 2010.

The quiz is a must-watch as it is well anchored, the participants have immense knowledge of the subject and there is definitely lots to learn from the questions thrown. For long, I watched the show intently, answering questions along with the contestants, researching on unknown topics the next day. From now on, I intend to note down as many questions as possible and post it onto my blog for future reference.

I have jotted down some questions (see below) from the Aug 30, 2010 show (not all, some of them) and some questions from the previous episodes (some that I remember starkly) -

Set 1: (the answers to these questions will appear as a comment from me in the comments section)
1) Who said these words - It's hard to be humble, when you're as great as I am.
2) The name of the military leader who participated in the Stockholm Olympics 1912 modern pentathlon event.
3) Who is the only player to have scored a hat trick in FIFA finals?
4) Who is the first Indian member of the International Olympic Committee?
5) Which sport does the body FISA represent?
6) With which sport will you associate FIDE?
7) K.M Beenamol won gold in 800m track event in Busan 2002 Asian games. Her brother, KM Binu, won the silver medal in which sporting event the same year, same games?
8) Name this tennis player from Sweden who lost to Rafael Nadal in 2010 French Open.
9) Name the golfer who has the nick name – The Great White Shark
10) The 1934 CWG were held in London. Which was the initially proposed venue/city for the games?
11) The Merdaka tournament is associated with which game?
12) Name the game that was first introduced in Doha 2006 Asian Games.
13) Shaolin martial arts hail from this country.
14) Name the Olympian after whom a Cricket stadium is named in Gwalior.
15) This is a unit of measurement of length and is roughly equal to/little over 600 feet. Name this unit
16) Name the sport that is going to be demonstrated in Delhi CWG 2010.
17) With which sport will you associate the terms – glide and spin techniques?
18) Who is the only athlete to have won 4 consecutive Olympic golds in the same individual event and also bettered the record with every win?
19) With which sport will you associate the famous sportsperson – Jehangir Khan?
20) The book “From gloom to glory” is the story of which Indian coach?
21) Straight from the Heart is an autobiography of which sportsperson?
22) The Four Minute Mile is associated with which famous athlete?
23) Breaking the Surface is the story of which famous sportsperson?
24) Venus Rosewater Dish is presented to the winner of which tournament?
25) Which famous tournament in Tennis is named after a French Aviator?
26) It’s not about the bike is a book by a famous sportsperson. Name him
27) With whom will you associate the Rope a Dope technique in boxing?
28) With which sport will you associate terms like castling, the fortress, Alekhine’s gun?
29) Name the air pistol specialist who claimed 5 golds, 1 silver, 1 bronze in 2006 Melbourne CWG.
30) Which country won the most number of golds in Beijing Olympics 2008 and which country won the maximum number of medals at the same event?

Set 2: (the answers to these questions will appear as a comment from me in the comments section)

After yesterday's episode (01/09/2010), here I update the post with another set of questions, as many as I could note down. Good to note that of the two selected to finals from this episode, one Mr. T.B. Srinath belongs to my school (PS Senior Secondary School) and college/graduated from BITS, Pilani.

Below are the questions:

1) Who is the only Indian prime minister to have received the Olympic Gold Order?
2) Who along with Sir Roger Bannister ran a mile under 4 minutes in the 1954 Common Wealth Games?
3) Name the S.African cricketer whose autobiography is known as “White Lightning”
4) Which other country apart from England, Wales, Scotland, Australia and New Zealand has attended every edition of the Common Wealth games?
5) Who was named the greatest female athlete of the 20th century by Sports Illustrated for Women magazine?
6) Their national netball team features a silver fern for its symbol, name the country.
7) Which sport has a technique named after Mitsuo Tsukahara?
8) Name the chess grandmaster who is diagnosed with a kind of spondiloarthritis.
9) Which other nation, apart from China and Indonesia, has won the Thomas Cup since its inception from the year 1948?
10) Name the athlete, who in 1913, was stripped off his Olympic Gold medals on grounds of violating the amateur rules.
11) Which football club was sometimes known as Jubilee club, Hamidia club, Crescent club?
12) Name the first recipient of Arjuna Award for achievement in athletics.
13) Name the only player to have won twice, all the four grand slams singles title (each set of 4 grand slam titles was won in the same calendar year)
14) Which Ethiopian long distance runner is nicknamed Neftenga?
15) Name this athlete who four Olympic Gold medals in the year 1948, nicknamed “The Flying Housewife”
16) With whom will one associate the book “The good, the bad and the bubbly”?
17) Name the remarkable invention made by Mr. Stuart Robertson, the marketing manager of ECB.
18) With which sport will you associate the term small/little slam?
19) Which other city apart from Melbourne and Sydney has hosted both Common Wealth Games and Summer Olympics?
20) Question from one of the earlier episodes: What was awarded to the victor in Ancient Olympics?

Set 3: (the answers to these questions will appear as the third comment from me in the comments section)

Yesterday's episode (06/09/2010) was a very high scoring session. Questions were relatively easier - my personal opinion. My favorite contestant from prelims- Pradipta Chattopadhyay, qualified for the finals. He has tremendous knowledge of sports trivia and yesterday he scored a neat 100/100 in MCQ s rounds. Along with him qualified Mr.Anand from Mumbai, outsmarting fellow contestants - Kinshuk and Sairam by a very narrow margin.

Below are the set of questions from yesterday's show. I have added two (that came to my mind) from the prelims.

1) Name the grand slam tennis tournament held last in a calendar year.
2) Who received the Golden shoe award for the best athlete in the 1986 Asian Games held at Seoul?
3) Name the only sport in which women took part in the 1930 Commonwealth Games, its first edition.
4) An annual hockey tournament, Sultan Azlan Shah Cup is named after which country’s monarch?
5) With which Olympic sport will you associate the terms – Epee, Foil and Sabre?
6) Which sport was introduced in the year 1895 for those who found playing basketball very tiresome?
7) Which sport introduced in the year 1895 was known then as Mintonette and was initially designed to be played indoors?
8) Besides lawn tennis, which other sport’s name features/is associated with Wimbledon?
9) Who is the author of the book Letters to a Young Gymnast?
10) Which was Sania Mirza’s first grand slam win?
11) The first three editions of Cricket world cup were officially known by what name?
12) Which victory came first for India, the Cricket world cup victory or the Hockey world cup victory?
13) Which nation is hosting the 2014 FIFA world cup?
14) In which water based sport is the eggbeater technique used?
15) Name the British athlete who won 100m gold in 1924 Paris Olympics, the feat that was depicted in the movie “Chariots of Fire”
16) What does the WADA monitor?
17) Which city hosted the equestrian events for 2008 Beijing Olympics?
18) What did the Czech athlete Jan Zelezny hurl for a distance of 98.48m at Jena, Germany in the year 1996?
19) What is the name provided to the four-year period between two Olympic Games?
20) Name the football tournament, introduced in 1888 to provide recreation for the British soldiers and Shimla secretariat personnel.
21) Which Indian tennis player’s mother played basketball for India?
22) In 1967, two warring factions in Nigerian civil war agreed for a 48-hour ceasefire to watch which player play?
23) Who announced retirement from hockey after 2010 hockey world cup?
24) With which sport will one associate the terms – Amar, Surjeevani and Gaminee?

25) With which sport was Leander Paes’ father Vece Paes associated?

On Friday, Sept 3rd 2010, Viswa and I went to Bangalore Cantonment station to see the Commonwealth Games exhibition train/CWG Express. The train arrived from Mysore and was scheduled to leave to Hubli on 3rd night. Open for public viewing from 10 am to 7 pm, the train in green color (the 2010 Delhi CWG is also known as the Green Commonwealth Games) had 5 coaches dedicated to information on Commonwealth Games and 6 other coaches for information on e-governance and Information technology.

The 5 coaches dedicated to CWG were laden with information on CWG, its birth, its history, its different venues/hosts, stadia/venues and their details for Delhi 2010 CWG, Indian sportstars, superstars in Indian sports who serve Indian Railways etc.

The mascot - Shera for 2010 CWG was completely adorable in the many cartoon strips displayed on information charts in train.