Navi Mumbai: Shrikant Mahale and Sarika Mahale of Nerul are proud parents today. Their eight-year-old daughter Disha Shrikant Mahale has won the junior ‘Champion of Champions’ title trophy along with cash and other rewards at 13th State-level Universal Concept Mental Arithmetic System (UCMAS) Abacus and Mental Arithmetic Competition 2017, which was held on January 15.
Around 4,000 students across Maharashtra between the age group of 4 and 13 had participated in the competition, where they had to solve 200 mathematics questions in eight minutes, depending on the students’ level, using an abacus or mental arithmetic.
This standard III student of DAV School, Nerul, had started learning abacus three years ago, and since then, this is her fourth award. At the age of five and six, she bagged two champion trophies at the State level and when she was seven, she won the national championship trophy. “This time, she isn’t just a champion, but a champion amongst the champions. Our objective is to find abacus genius and develop a healthy competitive spirit among children,” said Bhanu Rajput, Director of CBS Education, who had organised the competition.
“It is indeed a very proud moment and I am thankful to her teachers who guided her well and her mother who made sure that she practised abacus at home,” said Mr. Mahale.
Disha was enrolled for the abacus after her father learnt that her elder brother, who is nine years old, had learnt calculations at an early age due to abacus. “Though my son couldn’t excel, he was doing good at school because of the knack of concentration that he had learnt from abacus. But my daughter has excelled at it and is doing pretty good at school,” he said. Disha aims to win at international level.
