Shillong, Dec 18: The first-ever Indian Nationals Cubing Championships to be held in Northeast India concluded on December 17, 2023 after a thrilling 3-day affair at the North-Eastern Hill University (NEHU) campus in Shillong.

Affiliated to the World Cube Association, the competition was presented by AVENUES, Meghalaya’s social enterprise for personal excellence, in partnership with the Department of Sports and Youth Affairs, Government of Meghalaya, and brought to Shillong through organising clubs, CIPHER, IT, NEHU and SpeedCubing Guwahati.

Held in Shillong, Meghalaya from December 14 to 17, 2023, the competition saw the participation of over 100 speedcubers from across the country and the attendance of their parents, and delegates from the World Cube Association. Throughout the course of the 3-day competition, multiple rounds for each cubing event were conducted which included the 3x3x3 Cube, which was the main event, the 2x2x2, 4x4x4, 5x5x5, 6x6x6, 7x7x7, 3x3x3 One-handed, 3x3x3 Blindfolded, 4x4x4 Blindfolded, 5x5x5 Blindfolded, 3x3x3 Multi-blind, Skewb, Square-1, Megaminx, Pyraminx and Clock.

The final day saw the front-runners of each event going head to head against the clock to achieve their personal best scores and attain the winning positions in each category.

The winners of the main 3x3x3 Cube event were ascertained as the Indian Nationals 2023 Champions with Aryan Chhabra, reigning 3x3x3 national record holder, clinching the 1st Place at 6.89 seconds average and 6.34 seconds best time; Kunal Oak at 7.60 seconds average and 7.00 seconds best time; and Vijay Kishore at 7.87 seconds and 6.90 seconds best time.

Meghalaya’s Badonbor Lamshane, aged 9, clinched Gold for the Under-10 Achiever Award with a single best time of 16.76 secs on the 3x3x3 cube and averaging 18.27 secs overall. Amongst the adult cubers, Meghalaya’s Dev Agarwal had a competitive standing clocking a single best time of 10.14 secs and averaged 10.84 secs ranking 28th overall in the second round of the 3x3x3 challenge. First timers from the State also included Nongstoin’s Orianna Linnea Nongkynrih, Tura’s Tamen Dutta, and Shillong lads Sharplapphang Lyngdoh Mawlong, Hamenangsan Lyngdoh Mawnai, Stuart Nongkynrih and Kesava Khundrakpam.

The competition also saw a new national record achieved in the 4x4x4 Cube event by Ameya Gaba at 24.31 seconds; and Prisha Aggarwal breaking the female national records in 4 separate events, namely, the 6x6x6 with a mean of 3:04.22, 5x5x5 with an average of 1:32.87; Skewb with an average of 3.83 and 2.30 single. Shivam Bansal bagged the highest Sum of Ranks (SORs) from events throughout the competition with a total score of 75.62.

Other noted achievements at the competition were also recognised and the cubers felicitated for the same which included Youngest Cuber won by Himansh Aggarwal; Eldest Cuber won by Swaminathan Chandrasekaran; Best Female won by Prisha Aggarwal; Best Debutant won by R. Jeffin Ebenezer; and the Best 3 Achievers under the age of 10 won by Badonbor Lamshane, Pranav Rastogi and Himansh Aggarwal respectively. The events closed with participants representing their own states vying for the States Cup which was won by Team Delhi.

It may be mentioned that an official inaugural function was held on December 16, 2023, in the presence of Swapnil Tembe, Director, School Education and Literacy, Department of Education, Government of Meghalaya; Prof. Prabha Shankar Shukla, Vice-Chancellor, North-Eastern Hill University, Shillong; Prof. Debdatta Kandar, Head of Department, Information Technology, North-Eastern Hill University, Shillong; Prof. Md. Iftekhar Hussain, Dean, School of Technology, North-Eastern Hill University, Shillong; Somya Srivastava, Vice-Chair, World Cube Association; and Mark Laitflang Stone, Founder & CEO, AVENUES, Shillong.

Tabulated below is the complete list of 1st Place, 2nd Place and 3rd Place winners across all 16 official events with their Single and Average/ Mean Scores:

Also Read: Meghalaya Education Commission champions integration of Sports and Education for youth development

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