On June 11, 1976, Nadia Comaneci of Romania got a Perfect 10 in gymnastics at the Montreal Olympics. The digital Omega scoreboard showed the score as 1.00, as it was not equipped to show a second digit before the decimal. This week we look at a few more ‘perfect’ performances.

Perfect points

1. Nadia Comaneci’s coach Bela Karolyi coached both the medal contenders in the All-round Women’s Gymnastics competition in the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics. One was Ecaterina Szabo, of Romania, who narrowly missed out despite four perfect scores. Who was the other, the eventual all-round winner?

2. The maximum or perfect break in snooker is 147, which can only be achieved by potting 15 reds with 15 blacks and then the six colours. Which snooker player first achieved a perfect break in a professional competition in 1982?

3. The numbers six, 28 and 496 are regarded as the first three ‘perfect numbers.’ What makes them ‘perfect’?

4. Which acclaimed current affairs show on US television is named after a measure of visual perfection in the foot-pound-second system?

5. The story of Andrea Gail was the subject of a best-selling book by journalist Sebastian Junger and was later made into a film in 2000 starring George Clooney and Mark Wahlberg. What was the name of the book and the film?

6. A perfect over for a batsman is one in which she or he hits a six off every ball. Who was the first to do this in Indian domestic cricket?

7. In June this year, in which African country did the EPRDF win all 546 seats in the national assembly, bettering its last result, where the opposition held one seat?

8. In 1988, Merchant-Ivory produced the English film The Perfect Murder based on the HRF Keating novel of the same name. The film starred Naseeruddin Shah as Inspector Ghote and had Madhur Jaffrey, Amjad Khan and Johny Walker. Who played Ghote’s wife Pratima in the film?

9. There have been few perfect sweeps in Grand Slam tournaments, fewer still in a final. The last time it happened was in 1988, when a rampaging Steffi Graf took just 34 minutes to beat her unfortunate opponent without losing a single game. Who was she playing?

10. Three Perfections is an art form where a poet, calligrapher and painter get together to create an artwork. In which country did this art form flourish in the Middle Ages?

Answers

1 . Mary Lou Retton from the US; Karolyi had defected to America in 1981

2 . Steve Davis, playing against John Spencer

3 . A number is regarded perfect if all its divisors add up to the number. So 1, 2 and 3, the divisors of 6 add up to 6, as do 1,2,4,7 and 14 to 28.

4 . 20/20. In countries that follow the metric scale, perfect vision is regarded as 6/6

5 . The Perfect Storm described the Nor’ easter that hit the American East Coast in October 1991

6 . Ravi Shastri, who hit Tilak Raj of Baroda for 36 in a single over in 1985

7 . Ethiopia. Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn’s Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front swept the elections

8 . Ratna Pathak Shah, his wife in real life

9 . Natalia Zvereva, then aged 17. She went on to have a great doubles career with Gigi Fernandez and defeated Graf at Wimbledon 10 years later

10 . China. ‘Anchorage on a Rainy Night’ is regarded as one of the finest examples of the art form

Joy Bhattacharjyais a quizmaster and Project Director, FIFA U-17 World Cup

Follow Joy on Twitter @joybhattacharj

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