hyderabad as india marked its 74th year of independence on august 15 hyderabadboy neelakantha bhanu prakash gave the country another reason to celebrate representing the nation at the mind sports olympics mso london 2020 the 20yearold maths wizard won india its first gold medal in the event the most prestigious annual international competition for games of mental skill and mind sports being held in london since 1997 apart from bringing laurels to the country the victory once again sealed bhanus place as the fastest human calculator in the world a title once accorded to mathematical genius shakuntala deviat the mso bhanu competed with 29 participants between 10 years and 57 years from 13 countries to finish at the top of the chart with a clear margin of 65 points surprised at bhanus speed the judges asked him to solve another cube root to confirm his accuracy i have won many competitions but this one holds a special place in my heart as this is the first time that the mso championship title was won by india said the prodigy who already has 54 records 50 national and four international to his name in 2016 i defeated scott flansburg and won the title of fastest human calculator in the world i hold till date bhanu told toi his journey began in 2005 after an accident left him bedridden for almost a year my parents were told that i may be cognitively impaired during that year they exposed me to puzzles and games and soon realised i was good at solving math problems by 200607 i started participating in events held by abacus institution recollected bhanu his professors too are spellbound he is good with analytical skills and has worked extremely hard to be where he is today i feel very proud said prof jaspreet kaur assistant professor department of mathematics at st stephens college delhi where bhanu is a student theres more on his list of achievements a startup founded in 2018 exploring infinities to boost childrens cognitive development and popularise mental arithmetic and a collaboration with telangana government to launch math sessions through tsat network for students