In which year did India make its Olympic debut in hockey?

Correct — B. India's hockey team first played at the Olympics at Amsterdam in 1928, and won the gold medal on debut, beating the Netherlands in the final.

Dhyan Chand was the tournament's leading scorer. That debut opened the run of consecutive Olympic hockey golds India held from 1928 to 1956.

Option (b) is therefore the debut year, and the other dates are titles that came after it.

Why the others are wrong

• (a)
  1936 — 1936 was Berlin, India's third hockey gold, with Dhyan Chand as captain. It is the most famous year, not the first one.
• (c)
  1924 — 1924 was Paris, where India sent a small contingent but no hockey team — field hockey was not on that Games' programme at all.
• (d)
  1932 — 1932 was Los Angeles, India's second hockey gold. It is the Games that followed the debut, not the debut.

The safe anchor for Olympic hockey is the 1928 to 1956 run of six consecutive gold medals, which begins at Amsterdam.

India's Olympic participation is older than its hockey participation. Indian athletes competed well before 1928, and Norman Pritchard's two silver medals at the 1900 Paris Games are counted for India.

Keep the debut year apart from the famous years: 1936 Berlin under Dhyan Chand, the 1980 Moscow gold, and the Tokyo 2020 bronze that ended a long medal drought in the sport.

Key facts

• India's hockey team made its Olympic debut at Amsterdam in 1928 and won the gold medal.
• India won six consecutive Olympic hockey golds from 1928 to 1956.
• Dhyan Chand was the leading scorer of the 1928 Olympic hockey tournament.
• Field hockey was not part of the 1924 Paris Olympic programme.

Common traps

• 1936 is the year most candidates remember, because of Dhyan Chand's Berlin final, and it is not the debut.
• 1924 looks plausible because India did compete at Paris that year, in other sports.

No directly related past PYQ was found.