Answer: 1900 Paris
India first participated in the Olympic Games at the 1900 games held in Paris. It was still a colony of the British but it participated under a separate flag.
From Quiz: India at the Summer Olympic Games
Answer: The medals were claimed by both India and Great Britain.
Norman Pritchard was an Anglo Indian who was born and brought up in Calcutta, India. He moved to England in 1900 and competed in the AAA Championships as a member of the London Assembly Constituency and the Bengal Presidency Assembly Constituency. His performance in these games earned him a place at the Olympics where he won two silver medals - 200 meters and 200 meters hurdles. These medals were then claimed by both India and Great Britain. While the International Association of Athletics Federations lists him as a British athlete, the International Olympic Committee still credits these medals to India.
Pritchard later moved to the United States of America and became a silent film actor under the name of Norman Trevor. He acted in films like "Beau Geste" and "Dancing Mothers" apart from several Broadway shows.
From Quiz: Olympics - The Indian Journey
Answer: 10 meter air-rifle men's team
India's men's 10 meter air-rifle team members were Gagan Narang, Sanjeev Rajput and Abhinav Bindra. Gagan Narang also won an individual silver in 10 meter air-rifle.
From Quiz: India at the Asian Games 2010
Answer: One
There was only one athlete, Norman Pritchard who represented India at the 1900 Summer Olympics. He participated in athletics, entering five events and placing second in 200m and 200m hurdles.
From Quiz: India at the Summer Olympic Games
Answer: Field Hockey
Under captain Jaipal Singh, the Indian men's field hockey team competed in their first ever Olympic Games at Amsterdam in 1928. India defeated Netherlands 3-0 in the finals to claim their first ever Gold medal at the Olympics. Dhyan Chand, who scored all the three goals in the last five minutes of the match, was also the highest goal scorer of the tournament with 15 goals to his credit, way more than the second highest scorers which included three players tied with five goals each.
From Quiz: Olympics - The Indian Journey
Answer: Billiards
Pankaj Advani is a world champion in snooker and billiards. He beat Aung San Oo to win the gold.
From Quiz: India at the Asian Games 2010
Answer: Eight
India won a gold by Ronjan Sodhi, silver by Gagan Narang, men's 10m air-rifle team, women's 10m air-pistol team, and bronze twice by Vijay Kumar. The men's team won in trap and double trap events.
From Quiz: India at the Asian Games 2010
Answer: K. D. Jadhav
Kashaba Dadasaheb Jadhav won independent India's first Individual medal at the 1952 Helinski Olympics, when he bagged bronze in the Men's freestyle wrestling bantamweight category. He was the only individual from India to get a medal till 1996 Atlanta, when Leander Paes won bronze in the tennis tournament.
From Quiz: India at the Summer Olympic Games
Answer: Wrestling
KD Jadhav first competed in the Olympics at the 1948 London Olympics where he finished in sixth place in the flyweight category. Backed by the Maharaja of Patiala, Jadhav managed to gain an entry at the Olympic trials for the 1952 games where he secured for himself a place at the event. Competing in the 52kg freestyle category, he sailed through the first five bouts before he was caught off guard by the techniques of Japanese wrestler Shonachi Ishi. Jadhav did manage to defeat him but the bout tired him out and he ended the games with a bronze medal.
Apart from lack of adequate training facilities, KD Jadhav also had to overcome various financial difficulties to compete at the 1952 Olympics. The principal of the college in his village mortgaged his own house to fund Jadhav's travel expenses and the other farmers helped out by providing him with groceries for his trip.
From Quiz: Olympics - The Indian Journey
Answer: Somdev and Sanam Singh
Somdev Devvarman also won a gold medal in men's singles event. His 2010 Commonwealth Games Gold Medal gave him confidence to earn more.
From Quiz: India at the Asian Games 2010
Answer: Prija Sridharan
Prija Sridharan is a woman athlete from the 'God's Own Country', Kerala.
She was the first medal winner in athletics for India in these Asian Games.
From Quiz: India at the Asian Games 2010
Answer: Leander Paes
Leander Paes, also known as "Lee" is an Indian tennis ace. He has won all four Grand Slam doubles titles, plus a bronze medal at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics in men's Singles. His father Dr. Vece Paes was a part of the Indian Field Hockey team that won the bronze medal in the 1972 Olympic Games. His mother was the captain of the Indian women's basketball team (the team never qualified to play at the Olympics).
From Quiz: India at the Summer Olympic Games
Answer: PT Usha
PT Usha, an athlete from the state of Kerala, finished first in the semi finals of the 400 meters hurdles at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics becoming the first Indian woman to reach the finals at the Olympics. Unfortunately, she lost the bronze by 1/100th of a second and India had to wait longer for its first female Olympic medal winner.
Mary Kom is a boxer, Saina Nehwal is a badminton player and Anjali Bhagwat is a shooter.
From Quiz: Olympics - The Indian Journey
Answer: Abhinav Bindra
Abhinav Bindra won the first-ever individual gold medal for India in 2008 Beijing Olympics. India won 8 other gold medals at the Olympic Games in hockey.
From Quiz: India at the Asian Games 2010
Answer: Milkha Singh
Milkha Singh, popularly known as "The Flying Sikh" is regarded as "The greatest Indian athlete ever". He was a refugee from Pakistan and came to Delhi in 1950. He joined the army in 1951 and, in 1960, he set a world record of 45.8 seconds in the 400m track event. He lost in the 1960 Olympics final when he came fourth by 0.1 seconds, despite beating his previous best by 0.2 seconds. He is the father of ace Indian golfer Jeev Milkha Singh and husband of former Indian women's volleyball team member, Nirmal Kaur. He was the first Indian male of independent India to have reached the final of a running event at the Olympics. His life was made into a film in 2013 titled "Bhaag Milkha Bhaag" which were also the last words of his father.
From Quiz: India at the Summer Olympic Games
Answer: Singles
This individual Olympic medal for India came after a gap of more than forty years (bronze medal in wrestling at the 1952 Helsinki games). Paes had earlier participated in the 1992 Barcelona Olympics where he had lost in the men's tennis doubles quarter finals with partner Ramesh Krishnan.
From Quiz: Olympics - The Indian Journey
Answer: One
India unfortunately had only one bronze medal in swimming won by Virdhawal Khade(50m butterfly).
From Quiz: India at the Asian Games 2010
Answer: Shooting
In 2004 Athens, Rajyavardhan Singh Rathode won silver in the men's double trap event, giving India its first-ever medal in shooting. Then in 2008 Beijing, Abhinav Bindra won gold in the men's 10m Air rifle event. It was India's first-ever Olympic Gold in an event other than Field Hockey -- India had previously won eight gold medals in Field Hockey (1928 t 1980) when the gold medal was won in shooting.
From Quiz: India at the Summer Olympic Games
Answer: Weightlifting
Prior to these Olympics, Karnam won silver at the 1998 Asian Games held in Thailand. However, at the 1999 Athens World Weightlifting Championship she was unable to win anything and her subsequent selection to represent India at the Olympics was met with some criticism. She went on to win the bronze medal in the women's 69kg category at the 2000 Sydney Olympics.
From Quiz: Olympics - The Indian Journey
Answer: Vijender Singh
Vijender Singh was very disappointed after the Commonwealth Games in which he secured only a silver medal. He won the gold medal in the men's 75kg middleweight boxing.
From Quiz: India at the Asian Games 2010
Answer: Saina Nehwal
In 2008, Saina Nehwal lost to Maria Yulianti of Indonesia. She is the former international no.2 and Indian no.1 women's badminton player. In 2012 London, she won in bronze medal match after Wang Xin of China was retired hurt.
From Quiz: India at the Summer Olympic Games
Answer: Abhinav Bindra
Abhinav Bindra is an Indian shooter from the state of Punjab and first competed in the Olympics at the 2000 Sydney games where he was the youngest Indian participant. At the 2004 Athens Olympics, he broke the existing Olympic record and yet failed to win a medal. 28 years after India last won a gold medal at the Olympics (the men's field hockey team at the 1980 Moscow Olympics), Bindra won a gold medal in the men's 10 meter air rifle category at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
Another Indian shooter, Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore won the first individual silver medal for independent India at the 2004 Athens Olympics. Prakash Padukone is a badminton player and Vijay Amritraj is a tennis player.
From Quiz: Olympics - The Indian Journey
Answer: Vikas Krishnan
Vikas Krishnan secured gold medal in men's 60kg. It was the first gold for India in Asian Games history in boxing since 1998.
From Quiz: India at the Asian Games 2010
Answer: Major Dhyan Chand
Major Dhyan Chand is considered as the greatest Indian hockey player and one of the greatest in the history of the game even after he played his last match in 1948. He won three Olympic golds as the captain of the Field Hockey team in 1928, 1932 and 1936. He was posthomously nominated for the Bharat Ratna in 2013, the highest Indian civil award, making him the first sportsperson to be nominated.
From Quiz: India at the Summer Olympic Games
Answer: Kabaddi
The India men's team, after winning kabaddi in these Asian Games, became six-time gold medalists.
From Quiz: India at the Asian Games 2010