Where was the closing ceremony of the 38th National Games held?
- (a)Haridwar Sports Complex, Haridwar
- (b)The International Sports Stadium, Haldwani
- (c)Rajeev Gandhi International Cricket Stadium, Dehradun
- (d)Manoj Sarkar Sports Complex, Rudrapur
Correct — B, The International Sports Stadium, Haldwani.
The 38th National Games ran in Uttarakhand from 28 January to 14 February 2025. The final evening, on 14 February, was staged at the international sports stadium at Gaulapar in Haldwani, with Union Home Minister Amit Shah as chief guest.
The idea to carry away is that the 38th National Games opened in Dehradun and closed in Haldwani. Dehradun sits in the Garhwal division and Haldwani in Kumaon, so the Games began and ended in different halves of the state.
Here the opening venue sits in the options as (c), so read which ceremony the stem names before choosing.
- (a)Haridwar Sports Complex, Haridwar — Haridwar was one of the host cities of these Games — competition ran at the Roshnabad sports complex there — but the ceremonies were held in Dehradun and Haldwani.
The option belongs to the list of Uttarakhand cities that carried National Games competition venues, which also runs through Dehradun, Haldwani, Rudrapur, Nainital, New Tehri, Pithoragarh and Shivpuri.
- (c)Rajeev Gandhi International Cricket Stadium, Dehradun — This is the stadium where the Games began, not where they ended. Prime Minister Narendra Modi opened the 38th National Games here on 28 January 2025.
So it is the right answer to where the opening ceremony of the 38th National Games was held — the paired fact this stem is testing you against.
- (d)Manoj Sarkar Sports Complex, Rudrapur — This is a genuine Games venue, in Rudrapur in the tarai belt of Udham Singh Nagar district, so the name is familiar for a reason. The closing evening, though, was in Haldwani.
It answers which venue is named after the Rudrapur para-badminton player who took men's singles SL3 bronze at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics.
The National Games are India's domestic multi-sport meet, held under the Indian Olympic Association and awarded to a host state, which then spreads events across several of its cities.
Because the venues are scattered, the opening and closing ceremonies become two separate facts. In Uttarakhand's edition the two ceremonies fell in two different cities, Dehradun and Haldwani, each with its own date and chief guest.
Uttarakhand's turn as host, from 28 January to 14 February 2025, laid a national sporting event over the state's own geography — Dehradun in Garhwal, Haldwani and Nainital in Kumaon, Rudrapur in the tarai, Haridwar where the Ganga meets the plains.
That makes a headline into something you can answer with a map of the state as much as with a news memory: the ceremony venues are Dehradun, the state capital, and Haldwani, the largest city of Kumaon, one in each division.
- The 38th National Games were held in Uttarakhand from 28 January to 14 February 2025.
- The opening ceremony was held at the Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium, Dehradun, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi opening the Games.
- The closing ceremony was held on 14 February 2025 at Haldwani's international sports stadium at Gaulapar, with Union Home Minister Amit Shah as chief guest.
- Mauli, the mascot of these Games, is a Himalayan monal, which is Uttarakhand's state bird.
- The slogan of the Games was 'Sankalp Se Shikhar Tak' and the torch was named Tejaswini.
- The Services Sports Control Board topped the medal tally; hosts Uttarakhand finished seventh with 103 medals, 24 of them gold.
- Competition was spread across Dehradun, Haridwar, Haldwani, Rudrapur, Nainital, New Tehri, Pithoragarh and Shivpuri.
- Meghalaya is set to host the 39th National Games.
- Rudrapur's Manoj Sarkar Sports Complex is named after the para-badminton player who won men's singles SL3 bronze at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics.
The two ceremonies sat in two different cities; the highlighted row is the one this question asks for.
- The stem says closing, not opening; the Dehradun cricket stadium is the correct answer to the other half of that pair and is sitting right there in the options.
- Recognising a venue name proves nothing about ceremonies — the Rudrapur and Haridwar complexes are real Games venues that carried competition.
- The Haldwani ground is at Gaulapar and is written up under slightly different names in different sources, so anchor on the city rather than on an exact string.
- Uttarakhand's own finishing position (seventh) is a different fact from which contingent headed the tally (Services).
- The 39th edition goes to Meghalaya, so a question about the next host is not answered by carrying Uttarakhand forward.
In its simplest form this is single-fact recall: one ceremony named in the stem, four venues below it, and the other ceremony's venue among them.
The same material has also been set as a statement-based item: RPSC's 2024 prelims paper (Q54) paired a statement on who would host these Games with one on the size of the programme.
The defence is the same in each case: store the date, the city and the ceremony together, not the stadium name on its own.
RPSC_2024_PRE_Prelims2024_Q542024The same Games, asked before they were held: that item tested the host state and the size of the programme. This one comes after the event and asks for a venue on a named evening, which only the completed Games can supply.
RPSC_2021_PRE_Prelims2021_Q1422021Also hangs on a closing-ceremony detail, but of a different kind — the Indian flag bearer at an international Games, a person, where this stem wants a place at a domestic Games.
UKPSC_2012_PRE_PaperI_Q1382012Same commission and the same sports current-affairs ground, but the fact wanted there is a person at an overseas Asian Games, while this item turns on a stadium inside Uttarakhand.
- practice — not a real PYQ
The opening ceremony of the 38th National Games was held at:
- (a)Indira Gandhi International Sports Stadium, Haldwani
- (b)Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium, Dehradun
- (c)Manoj Sarkar Sports Complex, Rudrapur
- (d)Roshnabad Sports Complex, Haridwar
Answerb — Prime Minister Narendra Modi opened the Games at the Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium in Dehradun on 28 January 2025.(a) is the Haldwani ground, which took the closing ceremony on 14 February. (c) and (d) are competition venues in Rudrapur and Haridwar; neither ceremony was held at either.
- practice — not a real PYQ
Which contingent topped the medal tally at the 38th National Games?
- (a)Uttarakhand
- (b)Services Sports Control Board
- (c)Maharashtra
- (d)Haryana
Answerb — the Services Sports Control Board finished at the head of the table.(a) Uttarakhand, the host, ended seventh with 103 medals, of which 24 were gold. (c) Maharashtra and (d) Haryana were prominent state contingents, but neither headed the tally.
- practice — not a real PYQ
Mauli, the mascot of the 38th National Games, was modelled on which bird?
- (a)Himalayan monal
- (b)Great hornbill
- (c)Indian peafowl
- (d)Himalayan griffon
Answera — Mauli takes its form from the Himalayan monal, which is Uttarakhand's state bird, so the mascot points straight at the host state.(b), (c) and (d) are all real birds and none of them is the model for Mauli; the peafowl in (c) is India's national bird, which is a separate fact.
- practice — not a real PYQ
The 39th National Games are to be hosted by:
- (a)Goa
- (b)Gujarat
- (c)Meghalaya
- (d)Uttarakhand
Answerc — Meghalaya is set to host the 39th edition.(d) Uttarakhand hosted the 38th edition in 2025, (a) Goa the 37th in 2023 and (b) Gujarat the 36th in 2022, so each of the other three names belongs to an edition already completed.