20 questions in the prelims, no negatives Prelims scores are significant Stick around for the finals if you don’t qualify,

we promise a good quiz QM being generous, will drop a lot of hints

along the way, so pay attention Google is thy God outside this room. In here,

QM is thy God.

Cameron Slater is a controversial, right wing New Zealand-based blogger who is best known for publishing the most widely read blog in New Zealand, the Whale Oil Beef Hooked blog.

He is going to fight against a famous and controversial sportsperson in Celebrity Boxing today in Christchurch.

Identify his opponent.

Jesse Ryder

Only two male tennis players have ended every year since 2002 ranked in the top 50 of the world.

One of them is obviously Roger Federer. Who is the other highly consistent player?

Mikhail Youzhny

Five of the six highest innings scores in a cricket World Cup game have all taken place in the 21st century.

Which is the blanked out entry, the only one in this list that took place in the 20th century?

Sri Lanka against Kenya

Mauritz Von Strachwitz, 1953 Germany (failed to qualify)

Moises Solana, 1963 Mexico (retired but classified 11th)

Divina Galica, 1976 Britain (failed to qualify) But perhaps the most unlucky ones were Paul

Torchy in 1925 and Count Giulio Masetti in 1926. What essentially connects them, and who is the

most well known person omitted from this list?

They all drove car number 13 The most famous driver is of course Pastor

Maldonado, who revived the long defunct number

Derby County were once placed under a curse by a group of Romani Gypsies that they would never win the FA Cup. True to word, they never managed a win despite reaching six FA Cup semi finals, including three finals, between 1896 and 1903.

The next time they reached the final was in 1946 against Charlton Athletic. In the build up to the final, a representative from the club went to meet with Gypsies in an attempt to lift the curse.

During the match, with the score tied at 1-1, something happened, which has since been seen by fans of the club as the exact moment the curse was lifted. Derby County then went on to win the match 4-1.

So what exactly happened?

The ball burst!

This very famous sportsperson is a keen skier and football player, though he admits he’s lazy and often sleeps in until noon.

“I’ve recently started playing for a football team here in X,” he says. “I play at left back where I can do least damage. I’m a Real Madrid fan but a little less of one since the signing of Gareth Bale. It was too much money. I don’t get it.”

Simply identify this sportsperson who can pretty much do as he pleases.

Magnus Carlsen

FIFA barred X clubs from European Championship because they didn’t have a national league, but one divided into Serb, Croat and Muslim leagues.

The first time X met Y on cordial terms on the football field was in India during the Millennium Cup in January 2001. In a group game in Kochi, honours were shared in a one-all draw, but X took the moral victory.

In the final in Kolkata, Y prevailed 2-0, but it set the template for X’s future battles on the football field.

X and Y, please.

X- Bosnia and Herzegovina Y- Yugoslavia

X is a sporting term that is often realised in retrospect. Some leagues maintain official lists of X, but whether a team or person has achieved a X is subjective, resulting in frequent debates among sporting fans.

Ferrari, New York Yankees, Canada and Soviet Union Ice Hockey teams, Brazil National Football team and Juventus at various points of their histories are some notable examples of X, along with Dale Earnhardt, Sébastien Loeb, Michael Schumacher and Juan Manuel Fangio.

Which politically relevant term is X?

Dynasty

What haunting moniker was given to this line up of Yankees, who according to Senators' first baseman Joe Judge, “not only beat you but they tore your heart out”?

Murderer’s Row

Contrary to popular perception, what unique event occurred for the first time in the 2002 FIFA World Cup Final, though there are claims that a similar event took place in a 2nd round game of the 1974 World Cup?

First world cup meeting between Brazil and Germany

Brazil had also faced East Germany on 26 June, 1974

X is considered by many to be the greatest speed skater of all time. In his homeland Norway, he was considered as big an icon as Roald Amundsen and Fridtjof Nansen, the two explorers.

Over his entire career he set 14 different world records and many others which were not considered because the International Skating Union considered him a professional.

An award named after him is given out for the most outstanding skating performance of the season, which consists of a replica of his statue by the Oslo Skating Club.

The award or his name, please.

Oscar Mathisen Skating ‘Oscar’

In the 1988 Olympics, Canadian sailor Lawrence Lemieux was running the 5th of 7 total races to determine the medallists in the Finn class and was in 2nd place.

The wind suddenly picked up speed, and capsized a nearby dinghy of the Singapore team competing in the 470.

Subsequently, Lemieux deviated from his course to assist in rescuing them.

He re-joined the heat at 22nd place after rescuing them. However, due to his actions, the International Yacht Racing Union decided to reinstate Lemieux's position when he went off course, rewarding him with a 2nd

place finish in his race. At the medal awards ceremony, the President of the International

Olympic Committee awarded Lemieux the X Medal for Sportsmanship, one of the noblest honours that can be bestowed upon an Olympic athlete. Give me the name of the medal.

Pierre de Coubertin Medal

A Gordie Howe Hat Trick is a variation on the hat-trick, wherein a player has to score a goal, record an assist, and ___________, all in one game.

It is named after GordieHowe, who is nicknamed "Mr Hockey", and is considered to be one of the greatest hockey players of all time.

Get in a fight

This game was played by a former World Chess Champion X against Aron Nimzowitsch in San Remo, 1930, ending in X’s victory.

What was remarkable about this match was this particular formation of 2 rooks and a queen stacked together on the same file, an assault which led to a resignation within 4 more moves.

Identify the world champion X or the formation named after him.

Alexander Alekhine Alekhine’s Gun

For the 1992 Euro Qualifiers, 34 teams were initially divided into 7 groups. 6 groups of five teams and 1 group with four teams.

Initially, Group 5 had five teams. However, before the first match in the group took place, something happened due to which the number of teams in the group was reduced to four.

What major event happened?

West and East Germany were re-unified prior to the tournament

In late 2000 Boris Becker had a separation with his wife of 6 years. Almost parallel but independent to this, a paternity suit was acknowledged by him which involved fathering a child with a Russian model Angela Ermakova in a broom cupboard at a restaurant in London.

The German newspapers suggested a conspiracy theory in this matter which involved the Russian mafia.

What possible reason did the tabloids come up with to justify the innocence of Boris Becker?

Stolen sperm

The 6th principle of Olympic charter states “Any form of discrimination with regard to a country or a person on grounds of race, religion, politics, gender or otherwise is incompatible with belonging to the Olympic Movement.”

Principle 6 campaign was launched sometime last year by All Out, a social media organizing advocacy group with 1.9 million members coming from every country in the world. Athlete Ally, a sports based organization, and a brand American Apparel partnered with the two groups to produce and distribute Principle 6 gear online and in their stores globally.

What was this group protesting against?

Anti-Gay Laws in Russia (Sochi Olympics Protests)

Son of S. M. Anandan, he started his career at the age of 11. He was inspired by Noel Grant and Billy Cobham, with whom he shared the stage at Mumbai’s Rang Bhawan in 1990.

He has also acted in two Telugu movies Padamati Sandhya Ragam and Sirivennela.

How do we better know this person, who was in danger of finding himself unemployed a few months back?

Sivamani

X is one of only two persons, the other one being Jupp Heynckes, who, as player and as manager combined, has participated in over a 1000 Bundesliga matches.

In the Bundesliga, he holds the records for the most victories (387), most draws (205), most losses (228), and his teams have scored the most goals (1473) and conceded more (1142) than any other.

Coaching a national team, he won the LaureusSports Award for Team of the Year in 2005.

Identify X.

Otto Rehhagel

The Indian team had found a unique way of fitting X into their scheme of things at the World Cup. At the entrance of the players’ and officials’ access area, in the list of names and photographs put up, X was put on the team management sheet that included Team India’s non-playing staff.

It’s an oddity, unless of course, X has been handed some kind of a coaching role, which has not been made official. X?

Dhawal Kulkarni

Kindly switch off your lights for Earth Hour tonight from 8:30 to 9:30 pm!