MPPSC 2025 Prelims Paper-I · Question 8 of 100

Correct — D, 'Annu Rani — 100 m Sprint (Women)'. Annu Rani is a javelin thrower, not a sprinter. At Hangzhou she won gold in the women's javelin throw with a best of 62.92 m, becoming the first Indian woman to win an Asian Games javelin title. India won no gold in the women's 100 m at these Games, so the event attached to her name is wrong on both counts.

• (a)Tajinderpal Singh Toor - Shot Put (Men) — Correctly paired, so not the answer. Toor won the men's shot put gold at Hangzhou, successfully defending the title he had won at Jakarta 2018.
• (b)Avinash Sable - 3000 m Steeplechase (Men) — Correctly paired, so not the answer. Sable won the men's 3000 m steeplechase gold and broke the Asian Games record in the process.
• (c)Parul Chaudhary - 5000 m (Women) — Correctly paired, so not the answer. Parul Chaudhary won the women's 5000 m gold in 15:14.75, having already taken silver in the women's 3000 m steeplechase at the same Games.

The 19th Asian Games were held at Hangzhou, China, from 23 September to 8 October 2023 — a year later than scheduled because of COVID-19, which is why the same Games are branded 'Hangzhou 2022' on official material. India returned its best-ever performance: 107 medals (28 gold, 38 silver, 41 bronze), crossing the 100-medal mark for the first time and finishing fourth behind China, Japan and South Korea. Athletics was the single biggest contributor with 29 medals, six of them gold.

This is the classic athlete-versus-event mismatch. Three pairings are drawn straight from the athletics gold list; the fourth takes a genuine gold medallist and moves her to an event she has never competed in. The safest defence is to fix each big name to a discipline — Annu Rani and Neeraj Chopra to javelin, Sable to the steeplechase, Toor to shot put, Parul Chaudhary to distance running.

• 19th Asian Games, Hangzhou (China), 23 September – 8 October 2023; postponed by a year due to COVID-19 and still officially branded 'Hangzhou 2022'.
• India's best-ever haul at an Asian Games: 28 gold and over 100 medals in all, and fourth place in the medal table (the closing tally was announced as 107; some later medal tables list 106).
• Athletics gave India 29 medals including six golds; Neeraj Chopra defended his javelin title.
• Annu Rani (javelin, 62.92 m) became the first Indian woman to win an Asian Games javelin gold; Parul Chaudhary won the women's 5000 m and Avinash Sable set an Asian Games record in the 3000 m steeplechase.
• The next edition, the 20th Asian Games, is scheduled for Aichi–Nagoya, Japan, in 2026.

• Athlete–event mismatches are the standard trick: a real medallist is parked in the wrong discipline.
• The 'Hangzhou 2022' versus '2023 Asian Games' labelling — both refer to the same 19th Asian Games, held in 2023.
• Confusing gold with any medal: Parul Chaudhary won gold in the 5000 m but silver in the 3000 m steeplechase at the same Games.

MPPSC asks athlete-to-event or athlete-to-medal pairings from the most recent multi-sport Games; UPSC leans towards Games-level facts — host city, edition number, new sports, mottos. Revise both angles for the latest Games before the exam.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  How many gold medals did India win at the 2023 Asian Games in Hangzhou?

  • (a)18
  • (b)28
  • (c)38
  • (d)41

  Answer(b) 28 golds — part of India's best-ever Asian Games haul.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Who became the first Indian woman to win a gold medal in javelin throw at the Asian Games?

  • (a)Annu Rani
  • (b)Jyothi Yarraji
  • (c)Parul Chaudhary
  • (d)Shaili Singh

  Answer(a) Annu Rani — she won the women's javelin gold at Hangzhou 2023 with a throw of 62.92 m.