Category Archives: Sports

A batsman’s success story in thirteen chapters

Historical Links, Pre-Independence, Leaders, Nri's / Pio's, Records, All, Sports, World Opinion

Alvin Kallicharran is the founder of a cricket academy based out of Raleigh, North Carolina in the US.

The pre-launch of Alvin Kallicharan’s book was held on Monday  Debadatta Mallick
The pre-launch of Alvin Kallicharan’s book was held on Monday  Debadatta Mallick

Chennai :

Chennai holds a special place in former West Indies cricket captain and legendary batsman Alvin Kallicharran’s heart as his mother Padma was born here. Each visit is a celebration, and he was here on Monday for the pre-launch of his upcoming book Colour Blind. The event was held at Amir Mahal where he spoke about cricket and the book.

“In the book, I recount four important stages of my life — from growing up as an impoverished child to becoming a cricketer, trying to find meaning to life through cricket, and finally recognising the need to give back to the community with spiritual guidance and awareness,” said Alvin. The book is expected to be released in May 2019.

Sharing a matchbox-sized home in Guyana with around 20 people including 11 siblings, Alvin has come a long way. “At the age of 10, I was working at a rice mill from 8 am to 6 pm. I used to come back home, eat food if there was any left, or head to the streets to play cricket where coconut branches were our bats and we made ball with wood from the tree. Injuries were so common that at least one person used to be in a hospital every day,” he said.

Through the 13 chapters in the book, he shares various stories including his childhood defined by his status as the grandson of indentured labourers in the sugar plantations of Guyana, his encounters with the great cricketers and how his upbringing helped him adapt rather quickly, his test match debut century, the daily rigors and demands required to become a professional sportsperson, significant issues of cheating, questionable run out tactics, umpires without accountability and much more.

Alvin Kallicharran is the founder of a cricket academy based out of Raleigh, North Carolina in the US.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Sport> Cricket / by Express Features / March 27th, 2019

This 14-year-old from Chennai is on a roll

Education, Records, All, Sports, World Opinion

Even before showing her prowess at the international rollball tournament, city-based Mahimasree CS impressed the jury in the state.

Mahimasree CS
Mahimasree
CS

Even before showing her prowess at the international rollball tournament, city-based Mahimasree CS impressed the jury in the state. She was the only player from Tamil Nadu to be selected to play for the Indian team in the 3rd Asian Rollball Championship held recently at Belgaum. She was the only player from South India and youngest player in the team that won gold at the event. A class 9 student of Suguna PIPs School, Mahimasree was a skater initially.

When she was practising to skate, she was introduced to rollball by the physical director of her school, Rajasekar V, who also serves as the secretary of the Coimbatore District Roll Ball Association. “I started skating when I was in class 5. Rajasekar was my coach. Seeing my skating skills, he introduced me to rollball and trained me,” she says. Mahima was selected at district-level in rollball in 2016. “After the selection, I was appointed as the captain of the team,” she says.

In 2017, the 14-year-old participated in the National Rollball Championship in Goa, SGFI Rollball Championship in Chhattisgarh, and in 2018 she took part in Invitational Rollball Championship in Sri Lanka. Her team won bronze at the national meet, silver at the invitational championship and two gold and one bronze at SGFI championship.

“The first national- level match I took part in was in Udaipur in 2016 where my team secured fourth place,” says Mahima, who is a goalkeeper and defensive player in the sport. Talking about the recentlyheld Asian Rollball Championship, she says that it is her first venture into the international- level. “Players from 17 countries took part in the tournament. In the finals, I played offence and defence against Bangladesh and won gold with a score of 4-3.

It was difficult to win in the finals because the score was 3-0 in favour of Bangladesh. When we almost lost the hope of winning, the coach motivated us to play for the country and in the last 30 seconds, we placed the goal,” she shares. Mahima plays tennis, is a swimmer and an athlete. “Playing as a team taught me team spirit. I feel proud to have represented India,” she says, adding, “I aspire to represent India in the Olympics, and make the country proud,” M a h i m a says.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Cities>Chennai / by S P Kirthana / Express News Service / March 06th, 2019

Dharani dreams big

Inspiration/ Positive News and Features, Records, All, Sports, World Opinion

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The story of a fisherman’s son, who taught himself to surf, win championships, and train hundreds of people in the sport

Dharani Selvakumar once snuck into a boat to follow his father to sea. “He’d warned me to keep off the water at any cost,” says the 27-year-old surfer from Kovalam. The instant he saw his son, A Selvakumar, dragged him back home and whacked him. A fisherman, he knew the dangers and uncertainties of the profession, and wanted his only son to grow up far from the whiff of the sea. But the sea runs in Dharani’s blood. Nothing — not even his Computer Engineering degree — could keep him from it. Today, the seven-time National champion and ISA-certified surfing instructor, is in charge of Covelong Point @ Mahabs, the second branch of Covelong Point Surf School.

Dharani was an over-protected 90s kid. Despite his father’s repeated warnings, he did what any kid who lived by a beautiful seaside village would do. He jumped into the water the moment he came back from school and college, spent many afternoons catching crab with his bare hands, and surfing with broken windows and polystyrene boards. And when the surfing culture caught on in Kovalam, Dharani promptly followed suit, borrowing a cousin’s surf board.

“I had a three-month break before I joined Engineering,” he remembers. It was an unforgettable three months. Dharani spent every day hitting the water with the board, conversing with the waves, negotiating the ebbs and falls, falling and rising, until he mastered the art of surfing all by himself. “I was addicted to it,” he says. “But I fell out with my cousin and had to return his board,” he says.

Dharani approached Moorthy Megavan, co-founder of Covelong Point Surf School, who let him use his boards. Soon, Dharani started participating in surfing tournaments.

“The Summer Swell Challenge of 2012 in Puducherry, was the first competition I participated in,” he says. He came first in the semi-finals. In 2013, Dharani came first in the Junior Level at a tournament in Covelong. More successes followed, and Dharani travelled to surfing tournaments in various places, including Vizag, Kovalam (Kerala), Mangalore, and Konark Beach. “I also travelled to Thailand with the sponsorship of Arun Vasu of TT Group, who’s been a big support,” he says. Somewhere along the way, he learned stand up paddling too.

Dharani started teaching at Covelong Point in his free time and enjoyed the process. He’s trained over 6,000 people so far, some of whom are equipped enough to participate in tournaments. The best thing about teaching, for Dharani, is that he gets to see the same unabashed thrill in his students that he experiences every time he rides the waves. “I cannot describe the feeling, but I’m able to share it with someone else, which makes me happy,” he says. Dharani says that he would love to start his own surf school in the future. “But for now, I want to focus on taking the sport to the next level, and involve more boys from Mamallapuram in it,” he adds.

It was not easy making a career out of the very means his father advised against. “People in my village kept badgering him about why I was whiling away my time at sea despite being well educated,” he says. But Dharani’s mother Desam stood by him. She did housekeeping where he taught just to be with him. Gradually, Dharani’s father began to see how much happiness the sea brought his son. On an average day, there may be many people on the beach, admiring Dharani’s moves on the surf board. But he knows that sometimes, his father does too, pausing on his way to work.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Society / by Akila Kannadasa / February 27th, 2019

“Winning a medal for the country is a dream”: P Indhu

Records, All, Sports, World Opinion

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P Indhu is flush from the victory of her team against Sri Lanka in the recently held National throwball tournament

“I cannot express my joy in words. Winning a medal for the country is a dream,” says P Indhu. She was a part of the National throwball team that defeated Sri Lanka in the Indo-Sri Lankan Series (score 5-0) held at Bengaluru recently. She is a final year student of B.A Sociology from PSG College of Arts and Science in the city.

Indhu was interested in sports from a young age. “I started playing volley ball and kho-kho from class I. I joined the throwball team in class VIII.” She was soon selected by the School Games Federation of India (SGFL) to represent the state. “I was a part of the Open State National Throwball competition in 2011, 2014, 2016 and 2018. The one in 2018 happened at Panipat and I was chosen for the Indo-Sri Lankan series based on my performance in it. I was in college when my mentor, S Mani called me to inform about the selection. I couldn’t believe it initially. I was representing India for the first time.”

The 19 year old says that she practises everyday to keep fit. “I am trained by A Prabhu, coach for the Tamil Nadu throwball team. I run for two hours early in the mornings and play the game at Decathlon in the evenings. Before the Indo-Srilankan Series, I attended a 20-day residential camp in Bengaluru. The training was intense. I was coached by Mohammad Aquib, the national throwball team coach. My team mates were from other states and I have played against them in the state matches. It was fun to get to know them and to learn from them.”

She was a part of all the five games in the series. “The competition was tough. They were also a strong team. I am now preparing for the upcoming South Asian Throwball Series.”

Indhu says that though throwball is a popular sport, it is not recognised in most of the colleges and universities in the state. “I do not know the reason. My college does not have a throwball team. I play with students from other colleges interested in this game during my practice sessions. If more educational institutions support the sport, I am sure there will be more players taking up throwball seriously.”

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Sports> Other Sports / by Susan Joe Philip / February 19th, 2019

‘Free kick’ and a social goal

Education, Inspiration/ Positive News and Features, Resources of Free Materials, Sports
Kicking their way to a better future; (inset) Ajit Sigamani.
Kicking their way to a better future; (inset) Ajit Sigamani.

By offering a no-cost programme, mixed martial arts trainer Ajit Sigamani seeks to improve the lot of underprivileged youngsters

Ajit Sigamani equips underprivileged youngsters for the battles ahead of them. How does he do that? By helping them deliver a punch here and a kick there. Punches and kicks usually don’t enter polite conversations, and so, before you let your imagination run away with you, here is the drift of it.

Ajit is a combat sports coach and the founder of a combat training club called Combat Kinetics (CK), and he provides free training in mixed martial arts (MMA) to such youngsters so that they carve out a career in martial arts, as coaches or as competition-level fighters.

Thirty-five years old now, Ajit was initiated into combat training at age eight, when he was enrolled for a Karate programme and from there, he went on to train in boxing, sambo, judo and Indian martial arts. (Ajit is the vice-president of the Sambo Federation of India)

With such grounding in mixed martial arts, Ajit started Combat Kinetics in 2011. The training at CK, Ajit says, is mobility-based and combines many sports. “Fitness and weight-loss are an natural by products,” he adds.

“Under a programme ‘Fight For Your Future’, we take care of not just the coaching, but also the nutritional needs of the students,” he says.

Ajit says that at the end of the programme, students either choose to become coaches or participate in tournaments around the world; and many have also been selected to University programmes and even landed jobs under the sports quota, on account of their MMA background.

Syed Abdul Nazzeur (Abu), started his MMA career at a time when his family was facing a financial crisis.

“I didn’t even eat properly during that time and my coach helped me get good food, the needed nutrition, the best training and now I have risen to a level where I train police officers and they call me ‘coach’. I even acquired English and soft skills training for free.”Abu won the first International medal for India in MMA in China in 2016, and now serves as a coach at CK.

Navya Rao, a graphic designer, tattoo artist and a former coach at CK, states that training in MMA builds one’s confidence.

CK has eight centres in Chennai and expansion plans are on the cards.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Chennai / by Priyanka Shankar / February 14th, 2019

Guiding them to hit the bullseye

Sports

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There are around 150 students getting trained at Chennai Rifle Club

Until a year ago 17-year-old T. Vigneswaran did not know anything about rifles or shooting. After his father S. Tirupathi, a second-hand book vendor, enrolled him in the student membership programme at Chennai Rifle Club, the youngster has been winning medals.

“For the past one week I did not get any income and it is hard to meet the household expenses. However I want my son to shine and I am sure he will win gold for the country in the Olympics if he continues his practice,” says Mr. Tirupati.

Many youngsters like Vigneswaran, a plus-two student in a government school in Kodambakkam, benefited after the Chennai Rifle Club opened its door to students in March 2018. “As on date, there are around 150 students, aged between 10 and 17 years, and some are from financially weaker sections of the society too,” said D.V. Seetharama Rao, honorary secretary of the club.

“I have won medals in school and national-level competitions and it would not have been possible without the support of my coaches Rajat and Prem Sai who allowed me to use their gun. I want to purchase my own weapon, but my father cannot afford it,” says Vigneshwaran, a first-group student, who aims to join the Indian Air Force.

There are a few students who are willing to do all they can, to excel in the sport. Kavin Vendhan, a 10th standard student, travels from Villupuram to Chennai daily to practice for competitions. “For me shooting is a divine experience. I leave Villupuram at 11 a.m. and reach Chennai at 2 p.m. After two hours of practice, I return home,” says Kavin.

Gopinath Ganesan says he will do everything to help his daughter Saahitya pursue the sport. “She is performing well. I am very happy to invest in a weapon that will help her win medals. This sport helps in her overall development,” he says.

D. Kumar, convenor, student’s coaching scheme, Chennai Rifle Club, said that the club funds the training of students from the weaker strata of the society. “All the students are put through a structured training programme at the club,” he says.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Chennai / by Vivek Narayanan / Chennai – February 11th, 2019

Major General Dr AVK Mohan: Armed with adventure

Amazing Feats, Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Leaders, Records, All, Sports

At 59, the medical doctor qualified in hospital administration is fit as a fiddle.

At 59, Major General Dr AVK Mohan is a cyclist, mountaineer, runner and rider
At 59, Major General Dr AVK Mohan is a cyclist, mountaineer, runner and rider

Chennai  :

What would be a more apt venue for a tete-a-tete with a passionate endurance and adventure sports enthusiast than a bicycle store? We are at Pro-Bikers, OMR — the city’s go-to shop for professional cyclists — to meet Major General Dr AVK Mohan. It’s hard not to notice Mohan with his walrus moustache and crisp-casual attire. At 59, the medical doctor qualified in hospital administration is fit as a fiddle. “I have always been conscious about having a healthy lifestyle. I think everyone should focus on their fitness and well-being,” he says.

Amid a plethora of cycles and spares mounted on the walls, we find a quiet spot, and one of the most admired personalities in the city’s cycling and endurance sports circuit talks to us about his zest for life. The self-confessed ‘daredevil’ goes by the principle — ‘Never wait for opportunities to come your way. You create it, and seize the moment.’

Mohan has done it all — from going on mountaineering expeditions to Mount Satopanth with Italians in 1991, being the first in an Army brigade to climb a live volcano in Mount Nyeiragango in Congo in the early 2000s, to motorbiking to Siachen Glacier to commemorate the Army Medical Corps reunion, and biking to all the eight states on the Northeast including two China borders at Nathu La in Sikkim, Bumla in Arunachal Pradesh, Myanmar border at Moreh, Manipur and Bangladesh border at Agartala, Tripura.
His second-self is diverse, and he has a hard time picking a favourite. “From mountaineering, motorbiking, to cycling and running, they are all my favourites. Each one compliments and empowers the other. For instance, I cycle as cross-training for running,” he explains.

After traversing the country, Mohan moved to Chennai in December 2014 — a shift he never imagined would change his life. “I came to Chennai with inhibitions. The culture here was entirely different in comparison with my previous placements. I have served and commanded in Military hospitals in Jammu and Kashmir, Tezpur and so on,” he says.

But, what happened next was serendipitous. In June 2015, during one of his usual morning rides to OMR, he met Ashish Thadani and Kirtanya Krishnamurthy, who encouraged Mohan to join the Chennai Joy Riderz, a popular cycling group in the city. “My love for cycling tripled, and we went on several long distance rides. I met many like-minded people after my initiation into the group. I will treasure these memories forever,” says Mohan.

The tetra super randonneur has completed several long-distance rides including the 1,000km brevet event from Chennai to Vijayawada and back, a 900km tour of Nilgiris cycling — in Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu in 2015, and the 4,500 km Tour de Rotary K2K from Kashmir to Kanyakumari as part of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyaan in 2016.

Mohan’s day starts at 3 am, where he runs or cycles for a minimum of 70 km, before heading to work. Recently, despite an ankle fracture, Mohan went on a 15-km run on the Marina circuit. “It’s healing, but I don’t think the fracture will stop me from doing what I love,” he shares.
Mohan is an unofficial mentor and inspiration for budding cycling and fitness enthusiasts not only in Chennai but across the country. “I make sure I push and motivate others to take steps towards a better living.

To be a role model is a big responsibility, but I enjoy being one,” he shares.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Cities> Chennai / by Roshne Balasubramanian / Express News Service / February 04th, 2019

T.N. bags Best State Award for Swasth Bharat Yatra

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Education, Records, All, Sports

Madurai and Sivakasi the best performing districts

Tamil Nadu has bagged the Best State Award for its active participation in the Swasth Bharat Yatra, a pan-India cyclothon aimed at promoting the concept of ‘eating right for a healthy life’.

Madurai and Sivakasi won the awards for the best performing districts, while the State also bagged 17 awards in various other categories.

Health Minister C. Vijaya Baskar received the award from Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare Ashwini Kumar Choubey on Tuesday. Health Secretary J. Radhakrishnan was present on the occasion.

The State also received awards in six special categories, for six organisations and for the best cyclist, Menakadevi of Salem. Under the ‘eat right creativity challenge’, three schools were awarded in the poster competition and one in the wall art competition.

The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India had organised the Swasth Bharat Yatra, a key element of the ‘Eat Right India Movement’, to commemorate the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi from October 2018 to January 2019. The objective was to promote the message of ‘Eat Healthy’ to prevent non-communicable diseases, ‘Eat Safe’ to prevent food-borne diseases and ‘Eat Fortified’ to prevent micro-nutrient deficiencies.

During the rally, cyclists visited villages, towns and cities across the country to spread awareness. Two of the six teams visited various districts in Tamil Nadu. They camped in each district for three days and organised awareness programmes.

The Tamil Nadu Food Safety Department made the arrangements to organise the events to create awareness.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Chennai / by Staff Reporter / Chennai – January 30th, 2019

Up and down and round and round

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Sports

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Forty-five cyclists savoured the sights, sounds and taste of Northwest Tamil Nadu as they visited four waterfalls in seven days

In an age of bullet trains, express ways, and long haul flights, choosing a bicycle as a means of touring still presents a challenge. While there have been people who have toured the world on a bicycle since it was invented, it is still difficult to navigate even familiar cities today thanks to issues like safety, weather, road conditions, traffic, on-road support, and so on.

In 2010, to give more cyclists an opportunity to cycle in properly organised tours, Tamil Nadu Cycling Club (TCC), a Chennai-based not-for-profit organisation, began organising an annual cycling tour in partnership with The Tamil Nadu Tourism Development Corporation. Vasanth Ramaswamy, Secretary TCC and curator of the tour, outlines the objective of the tour as “to promote eco-tourism in the state of Tamil Nadu and provide a platform for touring on cycles”.

The group poses together | Photo Credit: unknown
The group poses together | Photo Credit: unknown

Given the vastness and diversity of Tamil Nadu, TCC has come out with different themes each year. In the first edition, the tour started in Coimbatore with the theme ‘Mountains’ and offered riders a chance to explore Ooty, Yercaud, and Kodaikanal. The subsequent editions explored themes like heritage sites, cuisines, the Eastern Ghats, Western ghats, the Nilgiris and wildlife. The focus was on visiting places that are intricately linked to these themes. The theme this year was ‘Waterfalls’ and the ride covered four waterfalls in Northwest Tamil Nadu. The tours typically start and end at one of the major towns in Tamil Nadu; this time, it was Erode. The intermediate halts over the next seven days were at Hogenekkal, Yercaud, Kallakuruchi and Kolli Hills. Forty five riders, including five women, participated.

The route for different days were designed to provide a variety of experiences; flat sections, uphill rides that test one’s determination, downhill rides that require good control, frustrating headwinds and tailwinds that provided much-wanted relief. “We avoid National Highways as much as possible as they offer very limited scenic beauty and most are all about speed,” says Venkat Venkatadri, one of the key organisers.

A stop for breakfast
A stop for breakfast

The first day from Erode to Hogenekkal passed through some beautiful roads that had stiff headwinds and the second day had steep inclines. After a more relaxed third at Yercaud that was all about scenery, the fourth and fifth day offered gentle climbs in the Kalrayan Hills. The toughest one was reserved for the sixth day when riders ascended the Kolli hills. The last day was a ceremonial easy ride back to Erode.

When asked how this tour compared to the prestigious Tour de France, Rajaram Pattabiraman, the tour director, quickly dismisses the inevitable comparisons, “This is not a race; it is a tour. It is immaterial whether someone rides fast or slow, the entire distance or partially, all days or some days… We want each participant to enjoy the tour and will offer support and recognition to all riders in the best possible manner.” The participants came from all over the country including a few international riders. They were from all walks of life and of all ages. For many, especially those from other parts of India, it was a new experience to ride through Tamil Nadu in places that they had rarely heard about.

It is not always the destination that counts but also the journey. One may not find a small town like Kallakuruchi very romantic but, when reached through the Kalrayan Hills and breathtaking views of Gomukhi dam, it is a place worth visiting.

Riding up to the hill stations helps one enjoy every bit of the view from the top and a sense of accomplishment. Modern highways bye-pass most small towns and link only the major cities. Cycling through small towns helps us connect with many wonderful people and institutions. The friendly cheers from children make each rider feel like a celebrity. It also offers us a chance to try local cuisine and get a closer look at local customs and traditions.

It is an opportunity to pay heed to what songwriter and entertainer Eddie Cantor said, “Slow down and enjoy life. It’s not only the scenery you miss by going to fast; you also miss the sense of where you are going and why.”

Pedal winners

The tour covered four waterfalls: Hogenekkal, Kiliyur in Yercaud, Periyar in Kalrayan Hils and Agaiya Gangai in Kolli Hills

There were 45 riders including five women

The distance covered was 852 km

The total elevation was 11,111m

The total trip took seven days

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Life & Style / by S. Balaji / January 01st, 2019

A peek into the world of speedcubing

Amazing Feats, Records, All, Sports, World Opinion

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City-based cubing enthusiasts and record holders talk about what goes into cracking the code

Eighteen-year-old Sripad Sarma Katrapati started cubing as a hobby by following his father’s footsteps. It didn’t take long for him to hit the saturation point and give up on the puzzle. “I found the cube again in my memory box sometime in 2013. That’s when I started cubing seriously,” says Sripad, who’s the current national champion in the one-handed category. With an average of 12.14 seconds, Sripad is second in India and 11th in Asia, which are impressive figures. But he scorns at the statistics because his rival, Bhargav Narasimhan, holds the national record with 11.86 seconds. “I’m trying to beat that. I did beat him in the nationals, which makes me the national champion while he’s the national record holder,” he says. Sripad was one among a group of cubers who gathered at Phoenix Market City on Saturday to participate in the ‘Speed Cubing Competition’, organised by Chennai Cubing Club in association with World Cube Association.

Sripad’s friend, Vijay Kishore (20), is another prominent name in the cubing circle. He broke the national record in the two-handed category, with 5.72 seconds in 2016.

Despite being friends, Vijay and Sripad have often competed against each other. In fact, the latter lost to Vijay in the qualifiers at Red Bull Rubik’s Cube World Championship earlier this year. The duo even got selected for the World Championship in Boston, where they competed against some of the world’s fastest. “It sort of gave us an idea as to where we stood against them,” he says.

Vijay, though, unabashedly admits that cubing isn’t as fascinating as it was when he started out. “It’s not an artform where you have to constantly show improvement. Cubing is very mechanical and the only way you could improve is by learning more algorithms,” he says, quickly clarifying that it was cubing that gave him an identity. Sripad and Vijay were part of a team that set the Guinness World Record for most number of cubes solved in an hour at IIT Madras’ Shaastra in 2016. The previous record of 1860 cubes was by team Italy. “We broke it with 2454 cubes, with 9 people solving and two people scrambling,” says Vijay.

Unscramble

There aren’t any specific algorithms to solve the cube, although both Sripad and Vijay use the same technique called CFOP (Cross, F2L, OLL and PLL). After inspecting the cube, the participant attempts to get a cross sign on the cube, after which he/she solves it, layer-by-layer. With the help of algorithms, he/she performs the last two steps – OLL (Orient the Last Layer) and PLL (Permutate the Last Layer).

During their stay in Boston, the duo met their idol Feliks Zemdegs (Australia), who’s the current world champion with an average of 5.80 seconds in the 3×3 category. “The methodology is the same, but his (Feliks) turns-per-second is faster and he tweaks the algorithm a bit,” explains Sripad, who says he had a major fanboy moment on Feliks.

Blind melody

Vishwanath Jeyaraman (22), is an expert in solving the Rubik’s Cube blindfolded. What’s amusing about Vishwanath is his uncanny approach to solving the puzzle. For instance, when Vishwanath gets the scramble, he takes one good look at the cube and assigns one letter to each corners of a single face. He then memorises each face — all of which is done in a matter of few seconds.

“If I assign letters H, K, I , L,U and V, I remember them as, ‘Hong Kong, Iceland and ultraviolet rays are coming from the Sun’,” he says. By this method, Vishwanath generates a vivid picture in his mind that eventually helps him solve the cube, “There are over 800 algorithms I need to drill into my system. It requires a lot of practise,” he adds.

Though the success rate is relatively lower in the blindfolded category, Vishwanath believes that luck plays a huge factor for with regard to records . “The current national record is 22.26 seconds. My personal best is 21.21 at home.”

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Sport> Other Sports / by Srivatsan S / December 04th, 2018