Sports quiz of the week: Luke Littler, Gabriela Dabrowski and Thomas Tuchel

1. Luke Littler has reached the final of the PDC World Championships, where he will face Michael van Gerwen. Littler was just 16 years old when he became a household name at the tournament last year – where did he finish in that tournament?

   1. He won the title

   2. He was beaten in the final by Luke Humphries

   3. He was beaten in the final by Michael van Gerwen

   4. He was beaten in the semi-finals by Michael Smith

2. 

   Nottingham Forest are third in the Premier League table after a run of five straight wins. When did they last finish third in the division?

   1. 1992-93

   2. 1994-95

   3. 1997-98

   4. 2000-01

3. Cricket now. In the first men’s Test between Afghanistan and Zimbabwe in Bulawayo, both teams beat their all-time record in which category?

   1. Most wickets taken in a single session

   2. Biggest-ever Test partnership

   3. Most runs scored in one innings

   4. Highest total score by a No 11 batter

4. 

   Ipswich won a Premier League game at their stadium this week. Which football-related film was top of the UK box office the last time they won at Portman Road?

   1. Zidane: A 21st Century Portrait

   2. Bend It Like Beckham

   3. Gregory’s Girl

   4. Green Street

5. This will be a huge year for women’s sport – but which of these events is not taking place in 2025?

   1. Women’s Euros (football)

   2. Women’s Rugby World Cup

   3. Women’s Cricket World Cup

   4. Women’s British & Irish Lions Tour

6. 

   The tennis player Gabriela Dabrowski reached a Wimbledon final, won an Olympic medal and was victorious at the WTA Finals in 2024. Why was her success particularly remarkable?

   1. She gave birth to twins in December 2023

   2. She retired four years ago and only made a comeback in February

   3. She was diagnosed with breast cancer in April

   4. She also finished the year as world No1 in padel

7. Thomas Tuchel started his new job as England manager this week. Tuchel’s playing career was cut short in his mid 20s when he suffered a serious knee injury. In which position did he play?

   1. Goalkeeper

   2. Central defender

   3. Midfielder

   4. Striker

8. 

   LeBron James celebrated his 40th birthday this week, meaning he has played in the NBA in his teens, twenties, thirties and forties. Which other basketball player achieved this feat?

   1. Michael Jordan

   2. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

   3. Vince Carter

   4. No one – just LeBron

9. If there was a Premier League table for the calendar year of 2024, which team would be top?

   1. Manchester City

   2. Arsenal

   3. Liverpool

   4. Chelsea

10. Which footballer was shown six yellow cards in the Premier League in 2024 – even though he did not commit a single foul in the 38 games he played?

    1. Joelinton

    2. Marc Cucurella

    3. Jordan Pickford

    4. Liam Delap

11. 

    Bath ran in 10 tries as they hammered Saracens 68-10 this week in the Premiership. Which club – who no longer play in the top flight – hold the record for the biggest win in Premiership history?

    1. Richmond

    2. London Welsh

    3. Rotherham Titans

    4. Worcester Warriors

12. Sale Sharks are third in the Premiership table. What does their rugby director, Alex Sanderson, claim to be using as motivation?

    1. A column in the local Messenger newspaper calling rugby union “a southern sport”

    2. A Premiership-endorsed ‘super-computer’ which gave his side just a 9% chance of reaching the playoffs

    3. The top-four position of his favourite football team, Nottingham Forest

    4. Paid trips out to Pizza Express after victories, in the Claudio Ranieri style

13. 

    Magnus Carlsen briefly withdrew from the World Blitz Championship this week. Why did the reigning champion refuse to play?

    1. His match was meant to start at 6am on 1 January but he wanted a big night out on New Year’s Eve

    2. He was drawn against Hans Niemann, who he has previously accused of cheating

    3. The organisers would not let him wear jeans during the match

    4. His name was misspelt on the billboard outside the arena and he refused to play until it was fixed

14. That was not the end of the controversy at the tournament in New York. Why was the final contentious?

    1. Carlsen turned up wearing a denim jacket

    2. Carlsen’s opponent visited the toilet 10 times during the match

    3. The two finalists – Carlsen and Ian Nepomniachtchi – agreed to share the title

    4. There was a fire alarm in the middle of the deciding game and the break in play seemed to benefit one player over the other

15. 

    US college football now: how did one mascot celebrate Iowa State’s 42-41 win over Miami in the Pop-Tarts Bowl?

    1. Tipping a large bucket of Pop-Tarts over the Cyclones’ winning coach

    2. Lowering themselves into a giant toaster that was carted on to the field

    3. Getting a tattoo of a Pop-Tart inked on the sideline

    4. Parachuting into the stadium and landing on a giant Pop-Tart crash mat

Solutions

1:B – Littler and Van Gerwen face off on Friday night. , 2:B – Blackburn won the title, Manchester United finished second and Forest were third – an incredible achievement given they had been in the second tier the season before., 3:C – Zimbabwe were all out for 586 in their first innings, passing the 563-9 they made at home to West Indies in 2001. In reply, Afghanistan scored 699 all out, beating their previous record of 545-4 – which they set against Zimbabwe in 2021. , 4:B – Ipswich’s 2-0 win against Chelsea was their first victory at Portman Road since April 2002. Bend It Like Beckham is the highest-grossing football film of all time., 5:D – The men’s team are touring Australia but the women’s squad – which was founded this year – will not go on tour until they visit New Zealand in 2027., 6:C – The 32-year-old Canadian kept her diagnosis a secret until the end of the season. “For a long time I wasn’t ready to expose myself to the possible attention and questions I’d have gotten before,” she wrote on Instagram. “My intentions in sharing some of my experience are to emphasise the quality of life one can maintain when cancer is detected early, when you have access to doctors and other healthcare practitioners who are highly skilled and dedicated to their craft, when you take care of your mental, physical and spiritual wellbeing, and when you surround yourself with people who truly have your back (and your front).”, 7:B – Tuchel worked as a barman after retiring from playing but returned to the game when Ralf Rangnick gave him a chance to coach the VfB Stuttgart youth team. , 8:D – James made his NBA debut as an 18-year-old in 2003. , 9:B – Arsenal picked up 85 points in 2024 but they didn’t win the title last season and will need a big turnaround to win it this year. Their defensive record in 2024 was outstanding; they conceded just 25 goals in 36 league games., 10:C – The goalkeeper picked up six bookings: three for dissent and three for time-wasting., 11:A – Richmond beat Bedford 106-12 in 1999. They scored a record 16 tries and 13 conversions., 12:B – “I don’t understand why we are not rated,” said Sanderson after his team’s 38-0 win over Bristol. “Five weeks ago, the super-computer gave us 9% and we have used that to fuel us.”, 13:C – When Carlsen refused to back down, the organisers relaxed their dress code to allow for “elegant minor deviations” from the official list of acceptable attire., 14:C – Plenty of fans and former players criticised the decision to share the title but Carlsen saw it differently, saying: “I think the match itself showed two players playing high level chess, equally matched and both deserving of a win.”, 15:B – As part of Kellogg’s sponsorship, there were also sideline sprinkles and foil goalpost pads – but the highlight was a cinnamon roll Pop-Tart being selected for sacrifice by the game’s MVP and apparently transformed into a giant edible snack. No, really – this actually happened.

Scores

1. 2 and above.

   Happy new year!

2. 3 and above.

   Happy new year!

3. 4 and above.

   Happy new year!

4. 5 and above.

   Happy new year!

5. 6 and above.

   Happy new year!

6. 7 and above.

   Happy new year!

7. 8 and above.

   Happy new year!

8. 9 and above.

   Happy new year!

9. 10 and above.

   Happy new year!

10. 11 and above.

    Happy new year!

11. 12 and above.

    Happy new year!

12. 13 and above.

    Happy new year!

13. 14 and above.

    Happy new year!

14. 15 and above.

    Happy new year!

15. 0 and above.

    Happy new year!

16. 1 and above.

    Happy new year!