GKC431/451/461/491/881 Unit - 4 : Sports and Games

UNIT - 4. ART & ENTERTAINMENT

1. HISTORY OF THE OLYMPICS

According to legend, the ancient Olympic Games were founded by Heracles
(the Roman Hercules), a son of Zeus. However, the first Olympic Games for which
we still have written records were held in 776 BCE (though it is generally believed
that the Games had been going on for many years already). In these Olympic Games,
a naked runner, Coroebus (a cook from Elis), won the sole event at the Olympics, the
stade - a run of approximately 192 meters (210 yards). This made Coroebus the very
first Olympic champion in history.

The ancient Olympic Games grew and continued to be played every four
years for nearly 1200 years. In 393 CE, the Roman emperor Theodosius I, a Christian,
abolished the Games because of their pagan influences.

Approximately 1500 years later, a young Frenchman named Pierre de

Coubertin began their revival. Coubertin is now known as le Rénovateur. Coubertin
was a French aristocrat born on January 1, 1863. He was only seven years old when
France was overrun by the Germans during the Franco-Prussian War of 1870. Some
believe that Coubertin attributed the defeat of France not to its military skills but
rather to the French soldiers' lack of vigor. After examining the education of the
German, British, and American children, Coubertin decided that it was exercise,
more specifically sports, that made a well-rounded and vigorous person.

Coubertin's attempt to get France interested in sports was not met with
enthusiasm. Still, Coubertin persisted. In 1890, he organized and founded a sports
organization, Union des Sociétés Francaises de Sports Athlétiques (USFSA). Two
years later, Coubertin first pitched his idea to revive the Olympic Games. At a
meeting of the Union des Sports Athlétiques in Paris on November 25, 1892,
Coubertin stated,

"Let us export our oarsmen, our runners, our fencers into other lands. That is
the true Free Trade of the future; and the day it is introduced into Europe the cause
of Peace will have received a new and strong ally. It inspires me to touch upon
another step. I now propose and in it I shall ask that the help you have given me
hitherto you will extend again, so that together we may attempt to realise [sic], upon

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a basis suitable to the conditions of our modern life, the splendid and beneficent task
of reviving the Olympic Games."

His speech did not inspire action. Though Coubertin was not the first to
propose the revival of the Olympic Games, he was certainly the most well-connected
and persistent of those to do so. Two years later, Coubertin organized a meeting
with 79 delegates who represented nine countries. He gathered these delegates in an
auditorium that was decorated by neoclassical murals and similar additional points
of ambiance. At this meeting, Coubertin eloquently spoke of the revival of the
Olympic Games. This time, Coubertin aroused interest.

The delegates at the conference voted unanimously for the Olympic Games.
The delegates also decided to have Coubertin construct an international committee
to organize the Games. This committee became the International Olympic
Committee (IOC; Comité Internationale Olympique) and Demetrious Vikelas from
Greece was selected to be its first president. Athens was chosen as the location for
the revival of the Olympic Games and the planning was begun.

2. OLYMPIC SPORTS
Currently, the Olympic program consists of 35 different sports, 53 disciplines
and more than 400 events. The Summer Olympics includes 28 sports with 38
disciplines and the Winter Olympics includes 7 sports with 15 disciplines. Nine
sports were on the original Olympic programme in 1896: athletics, cycling, fencing,
gymnastics, weightlifting, shooting, swimming, tennis, and wrestling. If the 1896
rowing events had not been cancelled due to bad weather, they would have been
included in this list as well.

At the most recent Winter Olympics, 15 disciplines in seven sports were

featured. Of these, cross country skiing, figure skating, ice hockey, Nordic combined,
ski jumping, and speed skating have been featured on the programme at all Winter
Olympics. In addition, figure skating made its debut at the London Summer
Olympics of 1908 and ice hockey was first contested at the 1920 Summer Olympics in
Antwerp before the introduction of a separate Winter Olympics.

In recent years, the IOC has added several new sports to the programme to
attract attention from young spectators. Examples of such sports include
snowboarding and beach volleyball. There is currently an effort underway to make
Cricket an Olympic sport. It appears though the growth in the number of sports
included at an Olympics has plateaued. The IOC decided to discontinue baseball and
softball beginning in 2012. Rugby was played in the 1900, 1908, 1920 and 1924
Olympics but was discontinued in 1928.

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Until 1992, the Olympics also often featured demonstration sports. The
objective was for these sports to reach a larger audience; the winners of these events
are not official Olympic champions. These sports were sometimes sports popular
only in the host nation, but internationally known sports have also been
demonstrated. Some demonstration sports eventually were included as full-medal
events.

2.1 MODERN OLYMPICS

Baron Piere de Coubertin of France gave birth to these games in 1892. In 1894
a meeting was held in Paris in which the representatives of various countries were
invited and it was proposed that with the world exhibition in 1900, the first Modern
Olympic were held in Athens in 1896. Since then every 4th year Olympics are held
all over the world.

Its aim is to promote the development of these five physical and moral
qualities which are basis of amateur sports and to bring together the athletes of the
world in a great quadrennial festival of Sports.

2.2 MODERN PENTATHLON

Competitive exercise in which each competitor takes part in fencing, swimming
and long races. In Asiad, in addition to these events Golf, Badminton and Table-
Tennis are also included.

2.3 WINTER OLYMPICS

Many games which are played on ice are called Winter Olympics. In this,
Skiing, Ice-Hockey, Figure-Skating, Speed Skating, etc. are included. These
competitions were started in 1924 in France and they are held after every 4 years.

2.4 OLYMPICS SIGN AND FLAG

The Sign of Olympics is five inter-connected coloured
circles. The five colours-Blue, Yellow, Black, Green and Red
represent five Continents-Europe, Asia, Australia, Africa and
America respectively. These circles are made on the Olympic
silk flag. The flag was first used in 1920. The flag of Winter
Olympics is different.

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3. IMPORTANT GAMES, HELD IN OLYMPICS

1) Archery 2) Athletics 3) Basketball

4) Boxing 5) Canoeing 6) Cycling

7) Equestria 8) Fencing 9) Gymnastic

10) Handball 11) Judo 12) Modern Pentathelon

13) Rowing 14) Shooting 15) Swimming

16) Weight-Lifting 17) Yatching 18) Wrestling

3.1 OLYMPIC GAMES HOST CITIES

Summer Olympic Games Winter Olympic Games

Year Olympiad Host city Country № Host city Country

1896 I Athens Greece

1900 II Paris France

1904 III St. Louis, Missouri United States

1906 III Athens Greece

United
1908 IV London
Kingdom

1912 V Stockholm Sweden

1916 VI (2) Berlin Germany

1920 VII Antwerp Belgium

1924 VIII Paris France I Chamonix France

1928 IX Amsterdam Netherlands II St Moritz Switzerland

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Los Angeles,
1932 X United States III Lake Placid, New York United States
California

Garmisch-
1936 XI Berlin Germany IV Germany
Partenkirchen

Sapporo→ Japan→
Tokyo→ Japan→
1940 XII (3) V (3) St Moritz→ Switzerland→
Helsinki Finland
Garmisch-Partenkirchen Germany

United
1944 XIII (3) London V (3) Cortina d'Ampezzo Italy
Kingdom

United
1948 XIV London V St Moritz Switzerland
Kingdom

1952 XV Helsinki Finland VI Oslo Norway

Melbourne, Victoria
Australia +
1956 XVI + VII Cortina d'Ampezzo Italy
Sweden
Stockholm

Squaw Valley,
1960 XVII Rome Italy VIII United States
California

1964 XVIII Tokyo Japan IX Innsbruck Austria

1968 XIX Mexico City Mexico X Grenoble France

1972 XX Munich West Germany XI Sapporo Japan

1976 XXI Montreal, Quebec Canada XII Innsbruck Austria

1980 XXII Moscow Soviet Union XIII Lake Placid, New York United States

Los Angeles,
1984 XXIII United States XIV Sarajevo Yugoslavia
California

1988 XXIV Seoul South Korea XV Calgary, Alberta Canada

1992 XXV Barcelona Spain XVI Albertville France

1994 XVII Lillehammer Norway

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1996 XXVI Atlanta, Georgia Unitd States

1998 XVIII Nagano Japan

Sydney, New South

2000 XXVII Australia
Wales

2002 XIX Salt Lake City, Utah United States

2004 XXVIII Athens Greece

2006 XX Turin Italy

2008 XXIX Beijing China

Vancouver, British
2010 XXI Canada
Columbia

United
2012 XXX London
Kingdom

2014 XXII Sochi Russia

2016 XXXI To be announced

2018 XXIII To be announced

4. GAMES
4.1 BASKETBALL
Circumference - Not less than 75 cm.

Not more than 78 cm.

Team - Each team consists of 12-15 Players, but game is played by not more than five
players on the field at the same time, the rest are substitutes.

Playing Time - The game consists of two halves of 20 minutes each with an interval
of 10 minutes.

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Important terms - Basket, dribbling, holding, free throw, hook shot, three seconds,
thirty second.

Tournaments -

1. National Basketball Championship

2. Junior National Basketball Championship
3. Scindhia Gold Cup Trophy
4. All India Ramu Memorial Basketball Tournament
5. Federation Cup Bombay
6. All India Nehru Cup (Bhilwara)
7. Asian Basketball Federation Championship

4.2 CRICKET
Sammuel Johnson derived the name
Cricket from ‘Cyres’, old English for a
Stick. Cricket is widely believed to have
originated in England.
 

Cricket has been played under

recognised rules, at least since the
beginning of the 8th century. The first
recorded match was played in Sussex in
1697. The first test match was played in
1877 in Melbourne where Australia beat England by 45 Runs. Since 1934, India has
started a National Championship for the Ranji Trophy. The game is mostly played in
the Commonwealth Countries.

Women’s Cricket- Women first played in England in the 18th Century and sporadic
references appear during the 19th century. Now it is played in many countries
including India.

Important Terms- Crease, Bye, No ball, Point, Slip, Third man, Gully, Over, Long-
off, Mid-on, Cover, Run-out, Stumped. L.B.W., Follow-on, Hat-trick, Lost ball, Dead-
ball, Wide ball, Leg-bye, Runout, Wicket-keeper.  

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Implements and Ground

The Ball- Weight not less than 5.5 Ounce and not more than 5.75. It measures not
less than 8.5 inches and not more than 9 inches in circumference.

The Bat- The bat should not exceed 4 1/4 inches at the widest part. It is not be more
than 38 inches in length.

The Stumps- The stumps are pitched opposite and parallel to each other at a
distance of 22 yards from Stump to Stump.

Tournaments

(1) Ranji Trophy

(2) Irani Trophy
(3) Duleep Trophy
(4) Deodhar Trophy
(5) Cooch Behar Trophy
(6) National Women’s Cricket
(7) C.K. Nayudu Trophy

4.3 HOCKEY
Origin of Modern Hockey-About 1875 a game resembling
modern hockey began to be played in England. The real
birthday of modern hockey was, however, Jan 18, 1866. The date
of the formation of the hockey association and of the adoption
of the striking circles. In 1895 the first international match was
played between England and Ireland. From 1908 hockey was
included in the Olympic games. India first participated in the Olympic hockey in
1928; nine teams participated and India won the gold medal.  

Ground Dimension- Length of the ground-100 Yards

Width of the ground-60 Yards

Weight of the Stick For men- Not less than 12 Ounces Not more than 28 Ounces

For women-Not more than 23 Ounces

Each stick is of such a size that it can be passed through a 2 inches ring.

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Circumference of the Ball- Not less than 8 13/16 inches. Not more than 9 1/4
inches.

Weight of the Ball- Not less than 5 1/2 Ounces. Not more than 5 3/4 Ounces.

Team- Each team consists of 16 players, but game is played by not more than 11
players on the field at the same time. Not more than three substitutes are permitted.

Duration of Game- 35 M-5 M-35 M (M = Minutes)

Important Terms- Hitting, Stopping, Pushing, Scooping, Flicking, Dribbling,

Dodging, Tackling, Off-side, Goal, Penalty-Corner, Penalty-Stroke.

Tournaments

1. Ranga Swami Cup-National Championship (1928)

2. Dhyan Chand Memorial Hockey, (Agra)

3. K.D. Singh Babu Memorial, Lucknow.

4. Beinghton Cup, Calcutta (1895).

5. Aga Khan Gold Cup, Bombay (1986).

6. Obaidulla Gold Cup, Bhoptal (1931).

7. Nehru Hockey Tournament, Delhi (1964).

8. D.C.M., Kota (1945).

9. Scindhia Gold Cup, Gwalior.

10. Indira Gandhi Gold Cup (International), Lucknow.

11. Gold Cup, Bombay (1955).

12. Murugappa Gold Cup, Madras (1945).

13. Maharaja Ranjit Singh Gold Cup, Amritsar (1970).

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4.4 FOOTBALL

Origin-
The origin of football is surrounded in mystery.

Contemporary historians, however, believe that the game

originated in England centuries ago but was formally played for
the first time in Derby, England in 217 A.D.  

Dimension of Ground- Length-110 metres or 100 metres

Width-75 metres or 65 metres

Weight of the ball- Not less than 14 ounces

Not More than 16 ounces

Circumference of the ball- Not less than 27 inches

Not more than 28 inches

Team- Each team consists of 16 players but game is played by not more than 11
players on the field at the same time. Not more than two substitutes are permitted.

Duration of Game- 45 min - 10 min -45 min

(Min = Minutes)

Important Terms- Kicking, Trapping, Passing, Dribbling, Heading,Throwing,

Tackling and Charging, Off Side, Free-Kick, Penalty Kick, Corner-Kick.

Tournaments

1. Santosh Trophy (National Football) 1941

2. Federation Cup, Madras
3. D.C.M. Cup, New Delhi
4. Dr. B.C. Roy Trophy, Agartala
5. Rover’s Cup, Bombay
6. Durand Cup, New Delhi
7. I.F.A. Shield, Calcutta

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8. Vitta Trophy, Madras

9. Jawahar Lal Nehru Gold Cup (International)
10. Senior Women’s National Football

4.5 TABLE-TENNIS

Origin-
Table-Tennis is an extremely fast indoor game. It was earlier known as
“Gossima” or “Ping-Pong”. The present name was adopted by the ITTF. Table-
Tennis became quite popular in India and in 1938 the National Championship was
held at Calcutta.

Equipment

The Table- The table is rectangular in shape, and is 9 feet long and 5 feet wide.

The Net- Height of the Net-6 inches.

The Ball- Weight of the ball- Not less than 37 grains, not more than 39 grains.

The Ball Shall be Spherical with a diameter of not less than 1.46 inches and not
more than 1.50 inches.

The Bat- The Bat may be of any size, shape or weight but its thickness should not be
more than 2 m.m.

A Game- A game shall be won by the player or pair who first scores 21 points.

Important Terms- Deuce, Let, Service, Point, Smash.

EVENTS FOR NATIONAL T.T. CHAMPIONSHIP-INDIA

S.No. Events Name of cup or trophy

1. Men’s Team Championship Barna Bellack Cup
2. Women’s Team Championship Jailaxmi Cup
3. Boys’ Team Championship Ramanujam Trophy
4. Girls’ Team Championship Padmawati Trophy
5. Women’s Singles Championship Travancore Cup
6. Men’s Singles Championship Pithapuram Cup

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7. Boys’ Singles Championship Indra Trophy

8. Girls’ Singles Championship Rajkumari Challenge Cup
9. Men’s Doubles Championship Yuvraj of Pitha
10. Women’s Doubles Championship Missen Kuraner, Challenge Cup
11. Mixed Doubles Championship Susan-Barna Cup
12. Boy’s Doubles Championship Sawantwadi Cup

4.6 LAWN TENNIS

Origin-

Lawn Tennis originated in England. It is played by men and

women at night as well as day, indoors as well as outdoors on
various surfaces. Tennis was played by women from the beginning
but their entry into competitive tournaments was delayed, till 1884.
Several years after the Championship began, MAUD WATSON
became the first woman to win Wimbledon Championship from an
entry of 13 players.  

Dimensions of Ground-For Singles- Length - 78 feet. Width - 27 feet.

For Doubles- Length- 78 feet. Width- 36 feet.

Height of the Net- The height of the net is 3 feet at the centre.

Ball- The ball varies in the three countries-England, U.S. and France.

In England, ball weight is approximately 2 1/2 Oz and is 2 1/4 inches in

diameter. The ball is white or yellow in colour.

Racket- The racket is usually about 27 inches long and weighs about 16 Oz. The
head is about 9 inches long and 6 inches broad.

Sets- The maximum number of sets in a match are 5 or 3 (where women take part).

Important Terms- Fore hand, Back hand, Volley, Fault, Let, Service, Deuce, Set,
Game, Lob, Smash, Chop, Half Volley.

Tournaments

1. Wimbledon Championship, London (1877).

2. French Open Tennis, Paris.
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3. Davis Cup.
4. Federation Cup, Tokyo (1963).
5. Women’s Grand Prix Tournament.
6. U.S. Open Championship.
7. All India Hard Court Tennis Championship.
8. National Lawn-Tennis Championship.

4.7 VOLLEY BALL

Origin-

The game was originated in the United States in 1895 by William G. Morgan,
while he was physical director at the Y.M.C.A. of Holyoke. The first rules for the
game were written by Morgan. In 1922, the first National U.S. Tournament was
conducted by BROOKLYN Central Y.M.C.A. of New York. The International Volley
Ball Federation was established in 1947. Volley-Ball was first included in the 1964
Olympic games. The first World Volley-Ball (Men) Championship was held in
Prague, Czech, in 1949.

Dimensions of Ground- 9 x 18 Metres.

Height of the Net- For Men-2.43 Metres.

For Women-2.24 Metres.

The Ball- Weight-270 gr.

Circumference- 66 cm.

Team- Each Team consists of 12 players but game is played by not more than 6
players.

Result- A game is won by the team that first scores 15 points, All international
matches are played to the best of five sets.

Important Terms- Service, Rotation, Smash, Block.

Tournaments

1. National Volley Ball Championship.

2. World Cup.

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4.8 CHESS
Chess is a game of Indian origin. There is evidence of its
being played in the 7th century. Now Russia is the leading
chess playing country.  

The Board :- The chess board comprises of 64 squares,

coloured alternately light and dark in a large square. The
players designated white and black, sit on opposite sides. In
printed diagrams, the black side, by convention at the top.
The board is placed so that each player finds the light square in the corner nearest
his right hand, the rows of 8 squares parallel to the white and black sides are called
“Ranks”. Rows at right angle to the ranks are “Files”.

Team :- A country is represented in international tournaments by a team of four

players with two reserves.

Important terms :- Bishop, King, Rook, Knight, Check, Stalemate, Mate.

Tournaments :-

1. National Chess Championship

2. Junior National Chess Championship
3. National Sub-Junior Chess Championship

4.9 KHO-KHO
Kho-Kho is an Indian game. It is a game of speed and control. Modern shape
was given by H.V.P.M. Baroda Indian Kho-Kho Federation was established in 1960
and National Kho-Kho Championship was started in 1961. In 1962, Kho-Kho was
started for women also.

Ground Dimensions :- Length : 27 m.

Width : 15 m.

Posts :- 120 cm. above the ground.

Circumference :- 30 to 40 cm.

Team :- Each team shall consist of 12 players, but game shall be played by 9 players.
The rest are reserves.

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Duration of Game :

First innings - 7M - 2M - 7M

Interval - 5M

Second innings - 7M - 2M - 7M

Notes - M= Minutes

Important Terms :- Runner, Chaser, Fole, Direction, Lona, to give Kho.

Tournaments :-

1. National Kho-Kho Championship

2. Inter- Varsity Kho-Kho Championship

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