Lai Guanhong, a seventh grader from Shenzhen Bao’an Middle School (Group), won the children’s title at the Indian National Open Memory Championships held in Bengaluru on October 12 and 13. Lai bagged three golds, three silvers and four bronzes from 10 competitions at the championships, where participants competed with each other in memorizing names and faces, playing cards, binary numbers and more. The seventh grader managed to memorize 60 numbers in a rapid-fire memorization competition and stated that his initial target was to win five golds. Young as he is, Lai is a decorated participant in memory competitions at home and abroad. He has won five individual titles and was the champion at the third International Children’s Memory Championships in Beijing in 2017, the children’s champion of the second Global Memory Championships this year, and won sixth place as well as “Rookie of the Championship” at the recently concluded World Memory Tour (Asia) and Asia Memory Open in Indonesia. Lai was heading for the 28th World Memory Championships, the trial stage of which was held in Shenzhen on October 19 and 20. Lai started memory training at the age of eight. He practiced by memorizing playing cards as well as the addition and subtraction of multi-digit numbers for 20 minutes every day. He is also passionate about jogging, reading, chess and the Rubik’s cube. “I have the ambition to become a master of memory and join the lineup of ‘Super Brains,’” said Lai. Hosted by the World Memory Sport Council, the 10th Indian National Open Memory Championships attracted 348 contestants from across the world. Lai was one of the six members with China’s delegation at the championships. (Wang Haolan) | 