SSC
Who was the first Indian pistol shooter to be ranked world number one by the ISSF?
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Answer: Option A — Heena Sidhu
Detailed Solution
In April 2014, Heena Sidhu became the first Indian pistol shooter to be ranked world number one by the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF), in the women's 10 m air pistol event.
More about Heena Sidhu:
- She was born on 29 August 1989 in Ludhiana, Punjab.
- She trained as a dentist (BDS) while pursuing shooting.
- In 2013, she won gold at the ISSF World Cup Final in Munich, becoming the first Indian pistol shooter to win a World Cup Final gold medal.
- At the 2018 Commonwealth Games, she won gold in the 25 m pistol and silver in the 10 m air pistol.
- She represented India at the 2012 London and 2016 Rio Olympics.
- She received the Arjuna Award in 2014.
- Her husband, Ronak Pandit, also a shooter, was her coach.
Other Indian shooters who reached world number one:
- Jitu Rai (pistol) reached world number two and won Asian Games gold in 2014.
- Manu Bhaker won two bronze medals at the 2024 Paris Olympics (10 m air pistol, and mixed team with Sarabjot Singh), the first Indian after independence to win two medals at a single Olympics.
India's Olympic shooting medals:
- Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore: silver (double trap, 2004).
- Abhinav Bindra: gold (10 m air rifle, 2008), India's first individual Olympic gold.
- Gagan Narang: bronze (10 m air rifle, 2012) and Vijay Kumar: silver (25 m rapid fire pistol, 2012).
- Manu Bhaker: two bronzes (2024); Sarabjot Singh: bronze (mixed team, 2024); Swapnil Kusale: bronze (50 m rifle 3 positions, 2024).
Why not the other options?
- ✗Manu Bhaker is a pistol shooter who won two Olympic bronze medals in 2024.
- ✗Jitu Rai is a pistol shooter who won Asian Games and Commonwealth Games golds.
- ✗Rahi Sarnobat won 25 m pistol gold at the 2018 Asian Games.
Quick tip
Remember: Heena Sidhu = first Indian pistol shooter ranked world No. 1 (2014, 10 m air pistol) and first Indian pistol World Cup Final gold (2013); Manu Bhaker = two bronzes at Paris 2024.
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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.