MPPSC 2026 Prelims Paper-I · Question 41 of 100

Correct — A, the Prabhash Joshi Sports Award. Madhya Pradesh's Sports and Youth Welfare Department gives this award specifically in Mallakhamb, the state's own game. It is named after Prabhash Joshi (1937–2009), the Madhya Pradesh–born Hindi journalist and founder-editor of Jansatta, who was one of Mallakhamb's best-known patrons and campaigned for the traditional sport's revival. The award sits alongside — not inside — MP's general sports honours (Vikram, Eklavya, Vishwamitra), and is the only one of the four names in the options attached to a state sports award.

• (b)Ved Pratap Vaidik Sports Award — Ved Pratap Vaidik was a well-known Hindi journalist and commentator on foreign affairs; no Madhya Pradesh sports award carries his name.
• (c)Alok Mehta Sports Award — Alok Mehta is a senior Hindi journalist and editor; there is no MP state sports award in his name — the option only borrows the 'famous Hindi journalist' pattern.
• (d)Kailash Chandra Pant Sports Award — Kailash Chandra Pant is a veteran writer-journalist associated with Madhya Pradesh — himself a Padma Shri awardee in 2026 for literature and education — but MP's Mallakhamb award is not named after him.

Madhya Pradesh runs a tiered set of state sports honours: the Vikram Award for outstanding senior sportspersons, the Eklavya Award for junior (under-19) players, the Vishwamitra Award for coaches, plus a Lifetime Achievement Award. Separately, because Mallakhamb was adopted as the state game, MP created a discipline-specific award for it — the Prabhash Joshi Award. Mallakhamb is a traditional Indian sport in which gymnastic postures and yogic poses are performed on a vertical wooden pole, a hanging pole, or a suspended rope.

The trap here is that all four options are surnames of well-known Hindi journalists, so 'which name sounds sporty' gives no signal. The deciding link is personal association: Prabhash Joshi is the journalist identified with promoting Mallakhamb, so the Mallakhamb award carries his name. MPPSC repeatedly asks 'award ↔ field' pairings for MP's state honours, so learn them as fixed pairs.

• Prabhash Joshi Award — Madhya Pradesh's state award in the field of Mallakhamb
• Madhya Pradesh declared Mallakhamb its state game (rajya khel) in 2013
• MP's other sports honours: Vikram Award (senior players), Eklavya Award (juniors), Vishwamitra Award (coaches), Lifetime Achievement Award
• Mallakhamb's three main forms: pole (fixed wooden pole), hanging pole, and rope (rassi) mallakhamb
• Prabhash Joshi (1937–2009) — Hindi journalist, founder-editor of Jansatta, a leading patron of Mallakhamb

• Mixing up MP's state awards with national awards — Dronacharya is a national coaching award, MP's coaching award is the Vishwamitra Award
• Assuming Mallakhamb belongs only to Maharashtra; MP formally adopted it as its state game
• Attaching the Prabhash Joshi name to a journalism award instead of the Mallakhamb sports award

MPPSC asks these as one-line 'which award is given in field X / to whom' pairings; UPSC rarely asks state awards but does ask about traditional Indian sports and Khelo India.

No directly related past PYQ was found.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Mallakhamb was declared the state game (rajya khel) of which Indian state in 2013?

  • (a)Maharashtra
  • (b)Madhya Pradesh
  • (c)Gujarat
  • (d)Rajasthan

  Answer(b) Madhya Pradesh — the state adopted Mallakhamb as its official state game in 2013.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Which award of the Government of Madhya Pradesh is given to sports coaches?

  • (a)Vikram Award
  • (b)Eklavya Award
  • (c)Vishwamitra Award
  • (d)Prabhash Joshi Award

  Answer(c) Vishwamitra Award — MP's award for coaches; Vikram is for senior players and Eklavya for juniors.