Read the following passage and answer the questions based on the passage:
India’s tryst with the Olympic Games began in 1900, when Norman Pritchard, a British-Indian athlete, clinched two silver medals in athletics. However, it wasn’t until the 1928 Amsterdam Olympics that India emerged as a formidable force in hockey, winning its first team gold. What followed was a golden era, where the Indian men’s hockey team dominated the Olympic arena with eight gold medals between 1928 and 1980—an unmatched legacy. Despite this early excellence, India’s Olympic journey has been riddled with inconsistencies. Post-1980, a conspicuous medal drought gripped the nation, exposing systemic inefficiencies: lack of infrastructure, inadequate training, and minimal grassroots scouting. Athletes often relied more on personal resilience than institutional support to achieve global recognition. The 21st century, however, has ushered in a phase of cautious optimism. With the establishment of bodies like the Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS) and increased corporate sponsorship, Indian athletes now enjoy improved access to international-level coaching, nutrition, and psychological training. The medal tallies, though modest, have seen an upward trend—symbolized by Neeraj Chopra’s historic gold in javelin at Tokyo 2020. What’s most heartening is the diversification of sports. No longer confined to hockey and wrestling, India is now making strides in disciplines like badminton, shooting, boxing, and athletics. Equally noteworthy is the rising representation and success of Indian women athletes, who have frequently been the torchbearers in recent Olympic outings. Yet, challenges remain. The transition from potential to podium demands long-term investment, scientific sports management, and societal encouragement that transcends cricket-centric fandom. While India’s Olympic identity is still evolving, the collective ambition is clearer than ever: to transform from a participant nation into a sporting powerhouse.
What major issue plagued India’s Olympic performance post-1980?
- (a)Limited fan interest
- (b)Over-dependence on cricket
- (c)Systemic inefficiencies in sports
- (d)Lack of global tournaments
Answer
Why
Correct — C. The passage names the post-1980 problem in so many words: "Post-1980, a conspicuous medal drought gripped the nation, exposing systemic inefficiencies".
It then lists them after the colon: lack of infrastructure, inadequate training, and minimal grassroots scouting. All three are failures of the sports system, not of fans or fixtures.
The keyed option repeats the passage's own label → option (c).
Why the others are wrong
- (a)Limited fan interest — Fan interest is never given as the post-1980 problem. Fandom appears once, as cricket-centric fandom, among the challenges the closing lines say remain.
- (b)Over-dependence on cricket — Cricket appears only in the closing lines, as cricket-centric fandom that societal encouragement must transcend. That is a challenge for the future, not the cause of the post-1980 drought.
- (d)Lack of global tournaments — Global tournaments are not mentioned at all. The passage blames the drought on problems at home: infrastructure, training and scouting.
Concept
A detail question tied to a time marker — post-1980 — is answered from the sentence that carries the marker. Find it, then read what it says.
That sentence gives the answer twice: a label, systemic inefficiencies, and three examples after the colon. The keyed option copies the label.
Options built from words found elsewhere in the passage, such as cricket, are traps: right passage, wrong part.
The passage runs in time order: early success, the post-1980 drought, 21st-century optimism, then the challenges that remain. Cricket sits in the last stage, which is why it cannot answer a post-1980 question.
Key facts
- The passage dates the medal drought to post-1980.
- It names the cause as systemic inefficiencies: lack of infrastructure, inadequate training and minimal grassroots scouting.
- It says athletes often relied more on personal resilience than institutional support.
Study next
Common traps
- Choosing over-dependence on cricket because cricket appears in the passage, without checking where
- Reading the closing challenges as the post-1980 problem
The same passage carries English Q.15 to Q.19. English Q.17 asks about the recovery side of this story, the Target Olympic Podium Scheme that the passage credits with improved access to coaching.
Related PYQs
No directly related past PYQ was found.