A 12-year-old boy from Singapore secured two gold medals at the 27th World Memory Championship that was held in Hong Kong. The Indian-origin child prodigy, identified as Dhruv Manoj won the medals in categories of ‘names and faces’ and ‘random words’. He comprehensively outsmarted 56 other contestants to come through with flying colours in the ‘kids category’.
The contest was held from December 20-22. The boy has shown his full potential in the competition, possessing a phenomenal memory. He can remember more than seven decks of shuffled cards in 60 minutes whereas he can remember 1,155 binary numbers in 30 minutes and 87 names and faces in just 15 minutes according to the news sources.
To remember such a wide range of information, Dhruv used the Roman technique to good effect. According to the Roman room technique, unstructured information can be remembered by linking images with objects in a room.
Dhruv has just done his primary schooling and is also a member of the computer club. Talking about his preparation, Dhruv said that he dedicate two to three hours of practice a week before the Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE).
He said that he would memorise binary numbers and cards for almost 4 to 6 hours in a day. He started his preparation in October. However, his success didn’t come that easy as it was very tough for him to start practising just when PSLE had come to a close.
Today Online reported that Dhruv was the one and only Singaporean in this year’s competition, that saw over 260 participants from China, Russia, India, Taiwan and Malaysia. Dhruv’s father Dr Manoj Prabhakar who plies his trade as a management consultant in the oil and gas industry was the vital cog behind his success and coached him thoroughly.
Dhruv’s ambition is quite clear at the moment and he’s ready to join track and field in secondary school and continue training in memory sport side by side.
