Girls rule Philippine Sudoku championships anew

By: Jerry E. Esplanada - 12 years ago

MANILA, Philippines—For the second year in a row, girls ruled the annual Philippine Sudoku Super Challenge (PSSC) championships.
Kaye Janelle Yao, a junior high school student of the Grace Christian College in Quezon City, is the country’s new Sudoku champion.
Yao, 15, and a mainstay of the national mathematics team, topped the finals of the 7th PSSC Grandmaster Division, held on Sunday at the SM City-North Edsa mall, also in Quezon City.
The young numbers ace, who has been playing Sudoku since she was six, placed third during last year’s edition of the contest.
Alvin Ian Chan, 18, from the Ateneo de Manila University and Ralph Joshua Sarrosa, 20, from the University of the Philippines Visayas in Miag-ao, Iloilo, placed second and third, respectively. Both are BS Applied Mathematics students.
Aside from trophies, Yao, Chan and Sarrosa also took home cash prizes of P60,000, P40,000 and P20,000, respectively.
In the competition’s Wizard Division, Candice Renee Beatrice Solidarios from the University of the Philippines Rural High School in Los Baños, Laguna, placed first.
The 12-year-old high school freshman won P50,000 and a trophy.
Natalia Beatrice Dy from St. John’s Institute in Bacolod City and Mike Paul Ayroso from Grace Christian College took the second and third places. They won trophies and P30,000 and P20,000, respectively.
In the Whiz Kid Division, Sanielle Meliz Ong, also from St. John’s Institute, emerged champion. She was followed by Vicente Raphael Chan from Zamboanga Chong Hua High School in Zamboanga City and Jan Vincent Simbol from the BHC Educational Institution in San Fernando, La Union.
Aside from trophies, they won P20,000, P10,000 and P5,000, respectively.
A total of 176 students, all winners in the PSSC regional contests, which saw over 5,200 participants, competed in the finals, according to Dr. Simon Chua, president of the non-government Mathematics Trainers’ Guild, which co-sponsored the competition with SM Malls.
This year’s PSSC winners will represent the country in any of the following international competitions: 2013 World Sudoku Championship in Beijing; 2013 Brand’s Sudoku Asia-Pacific Open in Singapore; and the 7th Brand’s Sudoku Thailand International Open and Princess Somsawali Cup in Thailand.