TEAM Philippines brought home one gold medal, three silvers and one bronze medal from the 25th World Memory Championship held last week at the Fairmont Hotel, Singapore.
International Master of Memory Jamyla Lambunao, the country’s most promising memory athlete, continued her reign in the Random Words event by bagging the gold in the juniors’ division for the third time. She also topped the event in 2013 and 2014.
The 15-year-old student from St. Scholastica’s Academy likewise placed runner-up in the Names and Faces retention and Spoken Numbers event.
A neophyte player in the world championship stage, 12-year-old Jan Jelo Juanir of St. Joseph School of Lawang Bato, Valenzuela, captured the silver in the Names and Faces event and the bronze in the Spoken Numbers event in the Kids division.
Juanir also got his second of the three norms needed to attain the title of IMM.
The three-day competition, showcasing an advanced level of superhuman memory skills, brought together 232 of the top mind athletes in the world.
“The competition was intense considering the number of elite athletes who joined the tournament. But, despite the limited resources, we were able to train well and challenged the sharpest minds the world can offer,’’ said by team director and head coach AB Bonita, who is seeking the support of the Philippine Sports Commission for their international exposure next year.
Filipino Grandmaster of Memory Erwin Balines also competed in the Open division, but failed to bag a medal.
“Competitors were tasked to memorize sets of random words, numbers, dates, abstract images, and shuffled decks of cards and to perfectly recall the exact order of each item in a given time limit,” Bonita added.
The team sent here by the Philippine Mind Sports Association was supported by DFNN Group of Companies, UNO Marketing and PAGCOR Director Reynaldo Concordia.
