CDS (II) 2023 General Knowledge · Question 106 of 120

Correct — B, Lebanon, Kuwait, Pakistan. The 2023 SAFF Championship was played in Bengaluru in June and July 2023 with an eight-team field: Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Kuwait, Lebanon, Maldives, Nepal and Pakistan. Kuwait and Lebanon are not South Asian at all — they were invited as guest teams to enlarge the tournament, which is why an option naming two West Asian sides alongside Pakistan is the one that holds. Every other option depends on a team that did not play. Sri Lanka is the recurring name in three of the four choices, and Sri Lanka was absent: its federation had been suspended by FIFA in January 2023 and was therefore ineligible. Myanmar, in option (c), is not a SAFF member and was not invited. India won the tournament, beating Kuwait in the final at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium on 4 July 2023 — one goal each after extra time, then 5-4 on penalties — for a ninth SAFF title.

• (a)Sri Lanka, India, Bangladesh — India and Bangladesh did play, but Sri Lanka did not. Football Sri Lanka was under a FIFA suspension imposed in January 2023 and could not enter.
• (c)India, Pakistan, Myanmar — Myanmar is the problem. It is not a member of the South Asian Football Federation and was not among the two invited guest teams, which were Kuwait and Lebanon.
• (d)Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bhutan — Nepal and Bhutan were both in the field; Sri Lanka again was not, for the same reason — the FIFA suspension of January 2023.

The SAFF Championship is the senior men's international tournament of the South Asian Football Federation, whose members are Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. India has dominated it since it began in 1993. The 2023 edition was expanded by inviting two Asian Football Confederation sides from outside the region, Kuwait and Lebanon, which raised the standard of the competition considerably — Kuwait reached the final and India needed penalties to beat them.

The question looks like a memory test on a team list but is really a test of two facts working together. First, this edition was not a purely South Asian event: the invitation of Kuwait and Lebanon is the whole point of the item, and it is the only thing that makes option (b) possible. Second, Sri Lanka was missing, which kills the two options built around it. Anyone who remembers only that Kuwait lost the final to India already knows that Kuwait played, and Kuwait appears in exactly one option. That single recollection settles the question. India's win, its ninth SAFF title, came on 4 July 2023 at Bengaluru.

• The 2023 SAFF Championship was hosted by India at Bengaluru in June and July 2023.
• Eight teams played: Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Kuwait, Lebanon, Maldives, Nepal and Pakistan.
• Kuwait and Lebanon were invited guests from outside South Asia; Sri Lanka was absent because its federation was under a FIFA suspension imposed on 21 January 2023.
• India beat Kuwait in the final at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium on 4 July 2023, 1-1 after extra time and 5-4 on penalties.
• It was India's ninth SAFF Championship title.

• Assuming a South Asian tournament contains only South Asian teams; the 2023 edition invited Kuwait and Lebanon.
• Including Sri Lanka out of habit — it was ineligible in 2023.
• Confusing the SAFF Championship with the SAFF Women's Championship or with the South Asian Games football event.

As a participants-or-winner question on a recent tournament, usually within a year of the event.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  India defeated which team in the final of the 2023 SAFF Championship?

  • (a)Lebanon
  • (b)Kuwait
  • (c)Nepal
  • (d)Bangladesh

  Answer(b) Kuwait — one goal each after extra time in Bengaluru, and India won 5-4 on penalties.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Which one of the following is NOT a member of the South Asian Football Federation?

  • (a)Bhutan
  • (b)Maldives
  • (c)Myanmar
  • (d)Nepal

  Answer(c) Myanmar — its football association belongs to the ASEAN grouping, not to SAFF.