Sports quiz of the week: excellence, excuses, exits and exemptions

Mo Salah is not the first Liverpool forward to be crowned African player of the year. Photograph: STR/EPA

1. Who has launched an athletics team and hopes to enter the Olympics for the first time?

   1. San Marino

   2. Vatican City

   3. Gibraltar

   4. Somaliland

2. Who is the only manager still working in English football who has won the FA Cup?

   1. Pep Guardiola

   2. Rafa Benítez

   3. Roberto Martínez

   4. Tony Pulis

3. Arsenal and Manchester United will meet in the fourth round of the FA Cup. What was unusual about the last time they met in the final of the competition?

   1. United scored twice in the last five minutes but still lost

   2. It was the first FA Cup final decided by a penalty shootout

   3. It was the first final with a red card

   4. It was the first final at the new Wembley

4. Pádraig Harrington will captain Europe at the Ryder Cup next year, becoming the second Irishman to take the job after Paul McGinley. What do the two men have in common?

   1. Neither won the Ryder Cup as a player

   2. They were born on the same day

   3. They both won three majors

   4. They went to the same school in Dublin

5. The Australian Open begins on Monday. In which of these years was the tournament not played?

   1. 1969

   2. 1986

   3. 1997

   4. 2000

6. Why was Venus Williams given a point penalty at the Australian Open 20 years ago?

   1. She shouted the words “stupid person” at herself after a bad shot

   2. Some of her hair beads came loose and scattered on to the court

   3. She changed her shirt, which she had put on back to front

   4. She stood in front of a line judge and stared at her for 20 seconds

7. Mo Salah was crowned African player of the year this week. Who else won the award while playing for Liverpool?

   1. Sadio Mané

   2. El Hadji Diouf

   3. Kolo Touré

   4. Rigobert Song

8. Why did Finland forward Riku Riski refuse to play in a football match against Sweden this week?

   1. He was born in Sweden and said facing them would be “ultimately self-defeating”

   2. He was at the Golden Globes, where he was nominated for best original song

   3. His brother plays for Sweden and he promised his mother they would never face each other

   4. The game was held in Qatar and he declined to travel due to “the ethical reasons”

9. Who reacted to a cup exit by saying: “The wind didn’t help. Players struggled to control the ball”?

   1. Marcelo Bielsa

   2. Claude Puel

   3. Jürgen Klopp

   4. Claudio Ranieri

10. Paris Saint-Germain were knocked out of the Coupe de la Ligue on Wednesday as they lost to Guingamp in Paris. When had PSG last lost a game in one of France's two cup competitions?

    1. Last Sunday

    2. Last January

    3. Two years ago

    4. Five years ago

Solutions

1:B - "The dream that we have often had is to see the Holy See flag among the delegations at the opening of the Olympic Games," said the head of the Vatican’s sports department. “We might even podium.", 2:B - Benítez won it with Liverpool in 2006, when Liverpool beat West Ham in the final., 3:B - United dominated the match but Arsenal held on for a goalless draw and eventually won on penalties after Paul Scholes missed his spot-kick., 4:D - They both attended the Coláiste Éanna school – although they weren’t in the same year., 5:B - The tournament moved from its old December slot to a new position in January after 1985, so they skipped the 1986 edition. , 6:B - Williams lost the match 6-4 6-0 to Lindsay Davenport., 7:B - Diouf won the award twice: once while at Lens and once while at Liverpool., 8:D - When asked about what his coaches made of his decision, Riski said: "They understood, but were of a different opinion. I stuck with my decision, and have nothing more to add. I was pretty clear. I didn’t want to go.", 9:C - Two defeats in a row for Klopp. Is he starting to feel the pressure?, 10:D - PSG had not been beaten in either of the French cups since they lost to Montpellier in the Coupe de France in January 2014, when Zlatan Ibrahimovic was still at the club.

Scores

1. 1 and above.

   Oh dear. A fine effort but not a great score

2. 2 and above.

   Oh dear. A fine effort but not a great score

3. 3 and above.

   Oh dear. A fine effort but not a great score

4. 4 and above.

   Oh dear. A fine effort but not a great score

5. 5 and above.

   Nicely done. Enjoy your weekend

6. 6 and above.

   Nicely done. Enjoy your weekend

7. 7 and above.

   You've smashed it. Enjoy your weekend

8. 8 and above.

   You've smashed it. Enjoy your weekend

9. 9 and above.

   You hero. Enjoy your weekend

10. 10 and above.

    You hero. Enjoy your weekend

11. 0 and above.

    Oh dear.