Neelkantha Bhanu Prakash, a 20-year-old student at Delhi’s St Stephen’s College, has made history by becoming the first Indian to win a gold medal at the Mental Calculation World Championship at Mind Sports Olympiad.
“Beating 29 competitors, up to 57 years of age, from 13 countries, I won the gold medal with a clear margin of 65 points. The judges were spellbound by my speed; they required me to perform more calculations to confirm my accuracy,” Bhanu Prakash said.
Hailed from Hyderabad, Bhanu Prakash holds four world record and 50 Limca records for being the fastest human calculator in the world. “My brain calculates quicker than the speed of a calculator. Breaking these records, once held by Math maestros like Scott Flansburg and Shakuntala Devi, is a matter of national pride. I have done my bit to place India on the global level of mathematics,” Bhanu Prakash fondly told media.
Mind Sports Olympiad is one of the most prestigious international competition for games of mental skill and mind sports which is held in London every year. It was first held in in 1998. This year, 30 participants from 13 countries including UK, Germany, UAE, France Greece and Lebanon took part in the virtual Mind Sports Olympiad.
On his future plans, the Hyderabad boy said he wanted to eradicate maths phobia prevalent among students, mainly in the rural and underprivileged communities. His vision is to create “VISION Math” labs and reach out to millions of children to make them start loving maths.
“Three out of every four students who study in the government schools of India have trouble in understanding basic Mathematics. The phobia caused by math and the demotivation is the number two cause for kids opting out of the rural schools in India,” he said.
He also runs a start up named Exploring Infinities, a math education partner of T-SAT, the education channel of the Telangana government. We’re looking for investments from venture capitalists to make it big, in the Indian context,” he added.
“Bhanu proved to be the pride of India as he is the first Indian to win a gold medal at the Mind Sports Olympics,” his father Srinivas Jonnalgadda said. “Bhanu Prakash wishes to instill a sense of enjoyment when children learn mathematically and all of his work is towards making this a reality,” he said.
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