Individual Games

Written and reviewed by Rohit Singh, Computer Science & Commerce faculty at UniDrill (MCA, Osmania University · 6 years teaching). Based on NCERT Health and Physical Education Class XI, Chapter 4.

Alone on the track: why individual sports are different

In a team game a bad day can be hidden behind a good teammate. In an individual sport it cannot. The sprinter in lane 4, the shuttler at the net and the wrestler on the mat carry their own win or loss. The chapter covers seven such sports: athletics, badminton, gymnastics, judo, swimming, table tennis and wrestling. For CUET each one reduces to the same four questions: where and when did it start, who governs it, what are the measurements, and how is it scored. This page answers them sport by sport, in tables.

Athletics: running, jumping and throwing

Running, jumping and throwing are natural and universal forms of human physical expression, and athletics is their organised version: track and field. It is among the oldest sporting competitions.

Classification of athletics events. There are four types: track events (all running events), field events (jumping and throwing), combined events (decathlon for men, heptathlon for women) and events conducted outside the stadium (marathon of 42.195 km and the 20 km and 50 km walks).

The track and the starts. A standard track is an oval of two straights and two curves, 400 m long. National and international competitions use synthetic (all-weather) tracks. In races up to and including 400 m each athlete has a separate lane, 1.22 m to 1.25 m wide, marked by lines 5 cm wide, and must finish in the allotted lane. An 800 m race starts in lanes, but the runners move to the first lane after the first curve.

The crouch start has three types, which differ in how far the blocks sit from the starting line and from each other.

The commands are "On your marks", "Set" and the gun shot. Races can end with a lunge forward, a shoulder shrug or a run through; the run through is usually adopted by new athletes.

Relay races. A relay is a team event in which four runners complete a given distance, passing a baton only inside the exchange zone. A team has six members, of whom four run. If the baton falls in the exchange zone, only the runner who dropped it picks it up.

Field events: the numbers that get tested.

Long jump has four phases (runway, take-off, flight, landing) and three techniques (sail, hang, hitch-kick). The high jump techniques are the scissor jump, western roll, straddle and Fosbury flop; the Fosbury flop, the newest and most popular, clears the bar on the back after bending the body and lands on the shoulders. The shot put is thrown by the gliding technique (shot held at the base of the fingers and placed under the ear against the jaw) or the rotation technique.

High jump rules. The jumper takes off from one foot only. It is a foul to shake the bar from the support or to touch the ground beyond the poles before clearing. Three consecutive failures at a height disqualify the athlete. The time allowed for each jump is 1 minute when there are more than three athletes, 1.30 minutes for two or three, and 3 minutes for a single athlete.

General rules. Athletes run in shoes and wear a number on the chest and back (only one number in the pole vault and high jump). A false start in a track event gets the athlete expelled, except in combined events, where the first foul earns a warning and the second leads to expulsion. A referee can expel an athlete who obstructs another.

Pause and predict: a sprinter leaves the blocks before the gun in a 100 m heat. In a combined event the same mistake happens. What is the difference in the outcome?

Check your answer: In an ordinary track event the athlete is expelled. In a combined event the first false start earns only a warning, and the second leads to expulsion.

Beyond the textbook. For the exam: the Fosbury flop is the most popular high jump technique, with the athlete crossing the bar on the back. In reality: it is named after the American Dick Fosbury, who used it to win the Olympic gold medal at Mexico City in 1968, after which it quickly replaced the older straddle style. Why it matters: it explains why a "new" technique appears in a chapter that also lists much older ones.

Beyond the textbook. For the exam: the chapter names Neeraj Chopra as an Arjuna Award winner in athletics. In reality: the javelin thrower won the gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics (held in 2021), India's first Olympic gold in athletics. Why it matters: it gives a real, recent example for the throwing events named in the table.

Indian athletes named in the chapter. Early: Milkha Singh, T.C. Yohannan, Gurbachan Singh, Sriram Singh. Contemporary: P.T. Usha, Anju Bobby George, Jyotirmoyee Sikdar, Saraswati Saha, Soma Biswas.

National sports awards in the chapter

Beyond the textbook. For the exam: the award is called the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna, and "Khel Ratna" means sports gem. In reality: in 2021 the Government of India renamed it the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award. Why it matters: newspapers now use the new name, but a question based on the chapter will use the old one, so know both.

Badminton

Badminton is one of the world's fastest racket sports. It was once called Poona or Poonah, when British Army officers played it at Pune in 1860, and the name Badminton comes from the Duke of Beaufort's Badminton House in Gloucestershire.

How play and scoring work. A toss decides who serves or receives first. The server hits the shuttle below the waist into the diagonally opposite service court. The server serves from the right court when their score is even and from the left when it is odd. A point is scored on every rally, and the winner of a rally serves next. A match is the best of three games of 21 points. At 20 all, the first side to lead by two points wins. At 29 all, the side scoring the 30th point wins. The winner of a game serves first in the next. There is a 60 second interval when the leader reaches 11 points and a 2 minute interval between games. In the third game players change ends when the leading score reaches 11.

Strokes are grouped by where they are played: services (high, backhand low, backhand flick, forehand low, forehand flick), forecourt or net strokes (net shot, net lift, net kill), midcourt strokes (block, drive) and rear court strokes (clear, smash, drop shot). The three serves differ in the trajectory of the shuttle: a high serve drops vertically to the rear of the opponent's court and is used in women's singles and sometimes men's singles, while the backhand low serve just skips over the net and is used in doubles and men's singles.

Pause and predict: a badminton game stands at 29 all. How is it decided?

Check your answer: The side that scores the 30th point wins the game. The two point lead rule applies at 20 all, but the cap is 30.

Gymnastics

Gymnastics began in ancient Greece about 2500 years ago as training to keep people fit for sport. The word comes from the Greek gymnos, meaning naked. Plato, Homer and Aristotle strongly advocated its strengthening qualities. The Federation of International Gymnastics (FIG) was formed in 1881 at Liege. In India the Gymnastics Federation of India (GFI) was initiated in 1951 and affiliated in 1952; the national championships for men began in 1952 and for women in 1962.

How the school level routine is scored. Each element is worth 5.00 points. The floor exercise has four elements (20 points) and every other apparatus two elements (10 points each). The boys' total is 20 + 5 × 10 = 70 points over six apparatus; the girls' total is 20 + 3 × 10 = 50 points over four. Skills named are the cartwheel and back handspring (flic flac) on the balancing beam, the kip on uneven bars and the forward scissor on the pommel horse.

Milestones. Nadia Comaneci was the first female gymnast to get a perfect score, at the 1976 Montreal Olympics. Dipa Karmakar was the first Indian girl to qualify for Olympic gymnastics (Rio 2016), where she finished fourth, and she was one of five gymnasts to have successfully performed the Produnova, a very difficult vault. Khushi Ram and Veer Singh first represented India at the 1952 Helsinki Olympics.

Judo

Judo is a Japanese art of self-defence. Ju means gentle and Do means path, so Judo is "the gentle path". Jigoro Kano invented it in 1882, the year it was first taught at the Kodokan Judo Institute, building on the older art of Ju Jutsu. Judo for men entered the Olympics at Tokyo in 1964, and for women at Barcelona in 1992.

The seven families of techniques are tachi-waza (standing), koshi-waza (hip), ashi-waza (leg), te-waza (hand), osae-komi-waza (holds on the ground), kensetsu-waza (arm locks) and shime-waza (chokes).

A match lasts four minutes at international level and is controlled by a referee and two judges. If scores are equal the contest goes on to a golden score. Outlawed acts include attacking joints other than the elbows, punching or kicking, and touching the opponent's face. The competition area is a minimum of 14 m × 14 m with an inner contest area of 8 to 10 m and a safety area at least 3 m wide, covered with tatami mats.

Swimming

Swimming emerged as a competitive sport in England in the early 1800s. The first indoor pool for public use, St George's Baths, opened in 1828 and the Amateur Swimming Association was formed in 1880. The 1896 Athens Olympics were male only, and the first gold medal went to Alfred Hajos of Hungary in the 100 m freestyle. FINA was formed in 1908, women first swam at the Olympics in 1912 at Stockholm (Fanny Durack of Australia won the 100 m freestyle), and the Swimming Federation of India (SFI) was formed in 1948.

There are four competitive strokes: front crawl (freestyle), back crawl, breast stroke and butterfly. Butterfly is introduced later because it needs a high degree of proficiency, strength and coordination. The front crawl is taught through body position, arm action (which gives most of the forward push), flutter kick (which keeps the body horizontal), lateral breathing and body roll. Techniques are grouped into strokes, starts (grab, circular, racing, conventional, track) and turns. Five floats are taught: tuck, jellyfish, prone, star and supine.

Rules every swimmer must know. A swimmer finishes the race in the same lane, must touch the wall on each turn and may not pull on the lane rope. Devices that aid speed, buoyancy or endurance (webbed gloves, fins) are not permitted, but goggles are. A relay team has four swimmers, the order is nominated before the race and a swimmer whose feet leave the platform before the earlier teammate touches the wall disqualifies the team.

Table tennis

Table tennis, or Ping-Pong, is a popular indoor sport. The International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) was founded in 1926, and the Table Tennis Federation of India (TTFI) in 1926. It debuted at the Seoul Olympics in 1988, was played in the Asian Games from 1958, and became an optional Commonwealth Games sport in 2002.

A game is won by the first side to reach 11 points, unless both reach 10, when a two point lead is needed. A match is the best of any odd number of games. After every 2 points the service changes. If a game lasts 10 minutes (and fewer than 18 points have been scored) the expedite system begins: each player serves for one point in turn, and the receiver scores if they make 13 good returns. The two grips are the penhold (mainly Chinese and Japanese players) and the commonly used shakehand. The forehand push is the most common defensive stroke.

Wrestling

Wrestling is among the oldest combat sports. The Greeks developed it to train soldiers in hand to hand combat. The first Olympics (1896) had free style wrestling, Greco-Roman was added in 1908, and women's wrestling entered the Olympics in 2004. FILA was founded at Antwerp in 1912, and the international body today is United World Wrestling (UWW). India's governing body is the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI), registered on 27 January 1967. In India wrestling was known as Malla Yuddh, and traditionally wrestlers wore the langota.

The fourth penalty for a technical violation disqualifies the wrestler from the bout. Prohibited acts include strikes and kicks, greasy or sticky substances on the body, arriving at the mat perspiring, and wearing objects that could injure the opponent.

Beyond the textbook. For the exam: wrestling in India is linked with the Malla Yuddh tradition, and the first Indian to win an Olympic wrestling medal was Khashaba Dabasaheb Jadhav in 1952. In reality: traditional Indian wrestling, kushti, is practised in a clay pit called an akhara, while international competition is on a mat. Why it matters: a wrestler from a village akhara has to adapt to mat rules, such as scoring and fixed periods, before competing at the Olympics.

Exam traps

60-second revision

Where this chapter connects

• Previous: Physical and Physiological Aspects of Physical Education and Sports explains the warm up and body responses an athlete in each of these sports relies on.
• Next: Team Games moves from one athlete to a whole side with the same history, measurement and rule structure.
• Same theme: Tournaments and Competitions covers knockout and league formats used in these sports, and Adventure Sports covers outdoor individual activities.