A Hamilton schoolboy has beaten off millions of children around the globe to be crowned ‘champion of champions’ in a maths, spelling and science challenge.

Nov 15 2012 by Gary Fanning, Hamilton Advertiser

Whizz kid Sharan Maiya scooped three gold medals in his age group at the World Education Games 2012.

The World Education Games is a global event for children aged four to 18, excited about learning online, and to give top students an opportunity to see how they measure up against the best. Six million students registered from 236 countries and competed with each other on computers either at home or in school.

The 14-year-old was crowned the world champion for science after clinching first place in his age group, 11-13 years.

Sharan, who was aged 13 at the time, came first in the world in World Science Day, first in the UK for World Spelling Day and ninth in the World in World Maths Day.

Because he chalked up the highest marks for the three events combined, Sharan was crowned the Champion of Champions for his age group.

This is the third year Sharan has secured a gold medal in World Maths Day. The award ceremony for the competition was held at the Sydney Opera House. However, Glasgow Academy pupil Sharan received his prizes at a special ceremony held at his school in the presence of Jayne Warburton, chief executive officer of 3P Learning, who host the Games, and Sandra White, MSP from Glasgow, both of whom congratulated him on his success.

Sharan said: “It was amazing, surprising and I am very happy. I have always liked maths as a subject. This was a fun way to learn and better than the usual way which involves learning from a text book and copying questions.

“The competition was like athletes competing against two or three others and seeing who can answer the most questions accurately and fastest.

“In the science it was questions on chemistry, biology and physics. You had to get the questions correct first and so many right before the others competing against you. There were easy questions and hard questions, sometimes there were chemical equations.

“I am really proud and thank parents, school teachers and friends for the support they have given me.

“I am not sure what I would like to do in the future. I enjoy golf. I have a lot to do as my handicap is 13.

Mum Sue said: “As parents we are very proud of Sharan’s achievements.”

Sharan has been invited to be the UK Ambassador for World Education Games 2013 for which the United Kingdom will for the first time be host nation.

He is also the Scottish ambassador for a maths challenge for UK called the Four Nations Maths Challenge. The contest is free to register and play for all UK students. As an ambassador Sharan hopes Scottish students will take part in their thousands and have fun with the mental math challenges. The questions are not complicated and medals will be awarded to those doing very well.

Sharan said: “As part of being an ambassador for Scotland, I have to encourage fellow pupils to take part in the Four Nations Maths Challenge as it is fun and helps your learning and there are lots of prizes.” Students can register at http://www.fournationsmathschallenge.co.uk/.