Understanding sports terminology is crucial for competitive exams like AFCAT 1 2025. Here’s a comprehensive guide to key terms from a variety of sports, including cricket, chess, polo, shooting, judo, swimming, wrestling, and volleyball.
AFCAT 1 2025 Exam: Sports & Games Terminology
1. Cricket
- Bowled: When the ball is delivered and hits the stumps, dislodging the bails.
- LBW (Leg Before Wicket): A mode of dismissal where the batsman is out if a ball hits their leg and would have hit the stumps.
- Maiden Over: An over in which no runs are scored off the bowler.
- Duck: A batsman getting out without scoring any runs.
- Century: When a batsman scores 100 or more runs in an innings.
2. Chess
- Checkmate: A position where the opponent’s king is in check and cannot escape, ending the game.
- Stalemate: A situation where a player has no legal moves and the game ends in a draw.
- Castling: A special move involving the king and a rook, allowing the king to move two squares towards the rook.
- En Passant: A special pawn capture that occurs when a pawn moves two squares forward and lands beside an opponent’s pawn.
3. Polo
- Chukka: A period in a polo match, typically lasting 7 minutes.
- Handicap: A system used in polo to balance teams based on players’ abilities.
- Mallet: The stick used to strike the ball in polo.
- Ride-off: A maneuver where players push each other with their horses to gain an advantage.
4. Shooting
- Bullseye: The center of a target, worth the highest points.
- Prone: A shooting position where the shooter lies flat on their stomach.
- Sight Alignment: The proper positioning of the firearm’s front and rear sights.
- Trigger Control: The act of squeezing the trigger smoothly to minimize gun movement.
5. Judo
- Ippon: The highest score awarded in judo, signaling a full point and winning the match.
- Waza-ari: A half-point in judo; two waza-aris equal an ippon.
- Osaekomi: A pin in which the opponent is held down for a set amount of time.
- Tatami: The mat on which judo is practiced.
6. Swimming
- Freestyle: A swimming event where the swimmer can use any stroke, but the front crawl is most common.
- Backstroke: A stroke where swimmers lie on their backs while moving through the water.
- Butterfly: A swimming stroke performed with both arms moving simultaneously in a circular motion and a dolphin kick.
- Flip Turn: A maneuver used at the end of a swimming lap to reverse direction quickly.
7. Wrestling
- Pinfall: When a wrestler holds both of an opponent’s shoulders to the mat for a set amount of time, resulting in victory.
- Takedown: Bringing an opponent to the mat from a standing position.
- Submission: When a wrestler forces their opponent to give up by applying pressure or pain.
- Grappling: Engaging in close physical combat where the objective is to gain a dominant position.
8. Volleyball
- Spike: A powerful downward hit aimed at the opponent’s court.
- Block: A defensive move where players attempt to stop or deflect a spike at the net.
- Set: A high pass aimed at positioning the ball for a spike.
- Ace: A serve that lands directly on the opponent’s court without being touched, resulting in a point.
