SSC
Who was the first captain of the Indian hockey team at the Olympics?
Answer (Detailed Solution Below)View answer ▾Hide ▴
Answer: Option A — Jaipal Singh Munda
Detailed Solution
Jaipal Singh Munda captained the Indian men's hockey team at the 1928 Amsterdam Olympics in the Netherlands, India's first Olympic hockey tournament. India won the gold medal, the first of its eight Olympic hockey golds.
More about the 1928 Olympics:
India won all its matches without conceding a single goal, scoring 29 goals in total. Dhyan Chand was the top scorer with 14 goals.
In the final, India beat the Netherlands 3-0.
Jaipal Singh left the team before the knockout stage because of differences with the team management, and Eric Pinniger led the team in the final matches. However, Jaipal Singh is recorded as the first captain.
About Jaipal Singh Munda (1903-1970):
He was born in a Munda tribal family in the Ranchi area (now in Jharkhand).
He studied at St. John's College, Oxford, where he became the first Indian to be awarded an Oxford "Blue" in hockey.
After his sports career, he became a major political leader of the Adivasi (tribal) people. He was a member of the Constituent Assembly, where he strongly spoke for the rights of tribal communities.
He founded the Jharkhand Party in 1950 and was one of the earliest leaders to demand a separate state of Jharkhand, which was finally created in 2000.
India's Olympic hockey captains (gold years):
- 1928: Jaipal Singh Munda.
- 1932: Lal Shah Bokhari.
- 1936: Dhyan Chand.
- 1948: Kishan Lal.
1952: K. D. Singh "Babu".
1956: Balbir Singh Sr.
1964: Charanjit Singh.
1980: Vasudevan Baskaran.
Why not the other options?
- ✗Dhyan Chand was captain in 1936.
- ✗Lal Shah Bokhari was captain in 1932.
- ✗D. Singh Babu was captain in 1952.
Quick tip
Remember: First Olympic hockey captain = Jaipal Singh Munda (1928 Amsterdam), later Constituent Assembly member and founder of the Jharkhand Party; 1948 = Kishan Lal.
💬 Discussions on this question
Ask a doubt ›Still stuck on this question? Ask our faculty and fellow students — answers appear here.
Ask a doubtMore Sports Questions
View all ›More General Knowledge Questions
- Q1.The techniques of Rasa and Bhava used in Indian classical dance trace their origin to which ancient text?Indian Dance Forms
- Q2.Lavani, Powada, Koli, Waghya Murali and Dhangari Gaja are folk dances of which state?Indian Dance Forms
- Q3.The one-act play associated with the Sattriya tradition of Assam is called:Indian Dance Forms
- Q4.Which dance form of Goa is known as the 'Warrior Dance'?Indian Dance Forms
- Q5.Manipuri dance is based on the Rasleela themes of:Indian Dance Forms
Sports — Preparation
This question tests your understanding of Sports, a key topic in the General Knowledge section. The detailed solution above uses a step-by-step approach to show the reasoning, and where available, a shortcut that helps you solve similar questions in under 90 seconds during the actual exam.
This topic covers sports GK: major tournaments and their venues, trophies and cups associated with each sport, sports terms, the number of players in a team, sports awards in India, Olympic and Asian Games facts, and famous sportspersons and their achievements. Common questions ask which sport a trophy belongs to (such as the Durand Cup for football or the Ranji Trophy for cricket), which term is used in which sport, and where a tournament was held. Records and results change after every season, so pair static facts such as team sizes and terms with recent results from current affairs. Practise the sports questions below, written in the style of the general awareness sections of exams such as SSC, banking, railways, CUET GAT, MAH CET and CLAT. Each question comes with a detailed explanation that adds related facts, so every question helps you revise more than one point.