Philippine speed cubing off to fast start

MANILA, Philippines — A world record, a heavy turnout and an enthusiastic response from a live audience point toward a speed cubing boost in the country.

“We are pleased as we saw everyone’s enthusiasm in the cube,” said Abraham “Bambol” Tolentino, president of the Philippine Olympic Committee (POC), which staged the first Philippine National Speed Cubing Open at the Tagaytay City Combat Center earlier this week.

As a result, Tolentino said that he will push for the inclusion of speed cubing as a demonstration sport in the inaugural Southeast Asian Games Youth Plus that the country is hosting from Dec. 2 to 14 next year in Metro Manila.

Tolentino said that the next step after the nationals is the country’s hosting of the Asian Championships.

“We have unlocked a new era in speed cubing – from long time ago when as kids, we got enamored with the Rubik’s Cube,” said Tolentino, who heads the National League of Mind Sports and is also the vice president of the Asian Mind Sports Association (AMSA).

Most notable at the nationals was Crimson Arradaza, a 15-year-old from Baguio City who set a new world record in 3x3x3 one-handed speed cubing event and the emergence of similarly world champion potentials, 19-year-old Brenton Wong (regular cube) and Aragon Martin Gonzales (Pyraminx).

Arradaza, an incoming ninth grader at the Balay Sofia Inc. in Baguio City, broke the previous world mark of 5.66 seconds set by Switzerland’s Dhruva Sai Meruva in October 2024.