Balines, Juanir bag medals in Hong Kong international memory games

MANILA, Philippines - Grandmaster of Memory Erwin Balines placed third overall while 10-year-old Jan Jelo Juanir bagged a gold medal in the kids division as the Avesco-Philippine team held its ground against the region’s top teams in the first Asia International Memory Championships in Yau Ma Tei, Hong Kong recently. 

Balines garnered two golds, one silver and five bronze medals to pool an aggregate of 5,608 points overall and finish behind two Mongolians.

Topping the event was GMM Sengesamdan Ulziikhutag with 7,141 points while Purevjav Erdenesaikhan took the silver with 5,986 points.

But Balines earned the title of Asian Master of Memory after fulfilling the following memory requirements: 700 digits in 30 minutes, seven decks of cards in 30 minutes, one deck of cards in 70 seconds and scoring at least 4,000 points in the tournament.

Juanir won the gold in Abstract Images and a bronze in Historic and Future Dates in his first mind sport tournament abroad.

The St. Joseph School of Lawang Bato student in Valenzuela City is also slated to compete in the first Taiwan Memory Championship in October and the 2015 China World Memory Championship in December.

A total of 122 mental athletes from 10 countries competed in the event, including China, Japan, India, Indonesia, Malaysia and Korea.