World Sudoku Championships in Bulgaria is the next step for the national winners

After three gruelling hours and five rounds that challenged the number-crunching skills and mental stamina of the participants, four young men emerged winners at the national finals of the Times Sudoku Championship being held in association with the DY Patil University, held in Mumbai.

The four winners — Rohan Rao (24 years), Prasanna Seshadri (24 years), Kishore Kumar Sridharan (26 years) and Gaurav Jain (35 years), will represent India at the World Sudoku Championships,which will be held in Bulgaria this October. While Mumbai’s Rohan Rao and Bengaluru’s Prasanna Seshadri have been part of the team last year as well, this is the first time that Chennai’s Kishore Kumar Sridharan and Bengaluru’s Gaurav Jain will get to represent the country at the World Sudoku Championships.

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Rohan,who is part of a tech start-up, says, "I’m passionate about Sudoku and will never get overconfident just because I’ve been part of the team before as well." Puzzle blogger Prasanna believes that your competitiveness depends on whom you compete with. “All the 16 finalists were talented, and I’m sure we four will be able to crack the world championship," he adds.
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"I was introduced to the Times Sudoku Championship by a friend in 2012, and this is the third consecutive year I’d made it to the finale," says Kishore, who’s pursuing his masters in renewable energy system in Greece. For Gaurav, who is part of a data mining team, this is his first time in the finale. “I’ve solved Sudoku puzzles in papers and have won competitions in Bengaluru. I’m excited that I will get to do it at such a world stage now,” he says.