Outracing 29 competitors, up to 57 years of age, from 13 countries, Neelakantha emerged as the first Indian winner of the Mental Calculation World Championship.
A student of Mathematics at St Stephen's College in Delhi, the Hyderabad youth reportedly holds four records and 50 Limca records for being the 'fastest human calculator n the world'.
As quoted in a BBC report, the maths prodigy known as Bhanu, had met with a serious accident at the age of five leaving him bedridden with a head injury for a year. Though his parents were reportedly told that Neelakantha could be cognitively impaired, the young boy picked up mental maths calculations for survival, and this brewed up his amazing maths journey.
On his future plan, the youth coming from a middle-class family, aims to settle for a decent job or help parents in their small scale food manufacturing enterprise. He reportedly has a start-up named ‘Exploring Infinities(EI)’ which works to help students academically. Bhanu wishes to eradicate maths phobia prevalent among students, especially those in the rural and underprivileged communities.
"Done India Proud": Vice President
His achievements were recognised today by Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu who praised and congratulated Neelakantha saying "He has done India proud. My best wishes to him for all future endeavours."
Taking to the Twitter handle, the Vice President's office posted: Compliments to Neelakantha Bhanu Prakash for winning the "world’s fastest human calculator" title & clinching the first-ever gold for India in the Mental Calculation World Championship at Mind Sports Olympiad held in London recently. Naidu also used the hashtag 'Human Calculator'.
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All About Mind Sports Olympiad
For those who don't know, the Mind Sports Olympiad is an international event with various games ranging from classics like Chess, Scrabble, Computer Programming Championship, in addition to over a dozen world championships such as Memory, Mental Calculations and Creative Thinking.
The inaugural event was held in 1997 in London with £100,000 prize fund and was described as possibly the biggest games festival ever held. It was the first event of its kind aiming to create an Olympics of the mind, awarding gold, silver and bronze medals for each event. The Mind Sports Olympiad continues to take place every year in England.