SHARJAH, December 12 2011: Three students from UAE-based schools were recently crowned ‘World Champions’ at the 17th International Abacus and Mental Arithmetic Competition after beating over 5,000 schoolchildren from 41 countries around the globe.
Aditya Gaurav Verma, Gayathri Girish and Karim El Nour were among 66 schoolchildren who qualified, after winning a national competition, to represent the UAE in the annual event organised by the Universal Concept of Mental Arithmetic System (UCMAS) in Malaysia.
Gayathri’s father, Girish Kumar was elated to see his 13-year-old daughter’s achievement.
“We are very happy and proud of our daughter for winning the World Championship. She had won the national competition but we didn’t expect her to take the world title. My daughter’s course instructors are very encouraging and were helpful throughout the training sessions. We are extremely proud at this moment and will cherish the memorable moment,” he said.
The competition challenged students between the ages of five to 13 to solve about 200 sums within eight minutes either mentally or using an abacus. The students were classified according to their age and competition-level.
Aditya, 13-year-old student from Delhi Private School, Sharjah, secured his position through hours of practice and hard work.
“We enrolled Aditya in UCMAS in August 2010 and his concentration in studies had greatly improved. We are very happy he took part in the world competition and won. Generally, he is a very studious boy in his school. He has been part of the scholar batch in his school where students who get 80 per cent and above in exams receive a blue blazer as part of their uniform,” said his mother, Ina Verma.
Karim, a six-year-old student from Sudan at the Sharjah British School, is the youngest out of the three, who brought joy to the family.
“We were all stressed and worried weeks before the competition but when Karim won the championship, all that stress took a 180 degree turn to happiness in our family. We are very proud of him. Karim had put in a lot of practice for someone his age. He had strong focus and concentration during practice sessions at home,” said his father, El Nour Abdul Bagi.
All three students attend courses at the UCMAS centres in Sharjah to improve their concentration in arithmetic.
Aditya Gaurav Verma, Gayathri Girish and Karim El Nour were among 66 schoolchildren who qualified, after winning a national competition, to represent the UAE in the annual event organised by the Universal Concept of Mental Arithmetic System (UCMAS) in Malaysia.
Gayathri’s father, Girish Kumar was elated to see his 13-year-old daughter’s achievement.
“We are very happy and proud of our daughter for winning the World Championship. She had won the national competition but we didn’t expect her to take the world title. My daughter’s course instructors are very encouraging and were helpful throughout the training sessions. We are extremely proud at this moment and will cherish the memorable moment,” he said.
The competition challenged students between the ages of five to 13 to solve about 200 sums within eight minutes either mentally or using an abacus. The students were classified according to their age and competition-level.
Aditya, 13-year-old student from Delhi Private School, Sharjah, secured his position through hours of practice and hard work.
“We enrolled Aditya in UCMAS in August 2010 and his concentration in studies had greatly improved. We are very happy he took part in the world competition and won. Generally, he is a very studious boy in his school. He has been part of the scholar batch in his school where students who get 80 per cent and above in exams receive a blue blazer as part of their uniform,” said his mother, Ina Verma.
Karim, a six-year-old student from Sudan at the Sharjah British School, is the youngest out of the three, who brought joy to the family.
“We were all stressed and worried weeks before the competition but when Karim won the championship, all that stress took a 180 degree turn to happiness in our family. We are very proud of him. Karim had put in a lot of practice for someone his age. He had strong focus and concentration during practice sessions at home,” said his father, El Nour Abdul Bagi.
All three students attend courses at the UCMAS centres in Sharjah to improve their concentration in arithmetic.