L-R: Abrina, Rose Eclarinal of ABS-CBN Europe News Bureau; Racasa, Marlon Bernardino, head of delegation and coach. Photo op after the awarding

LONDON - It was a memorable win for Johann Randall Abrina who grabbed a silver medal in the Speed Cards category in the UK Open International Memory Championships.

He memorized an arrangement of a deck of cards in a lightning speed of 1 minute and 20 seconds. It also gave Abrina his first Grandmaster (GM) norm. He needs two more GM norms to complete his Grandmaster (GM) of Memory Title.

The Pinoy memory athlete was 2 seconds away from the gold. It was a close fight between 28-year-old Abrina, a registered nurse and Germany’s Corinna Draschl, who clocked 1 minute and 18 seconds.
 
“Our sacrifices have paid off. We are able to put the Philippines on limelight again for this worthy achievement,’ said Abrina.

Filipino duo

Abrina was a newbie challenger in the Speed Cards category. It was just one of the 10 disciplines battled in the UK Open. Contestants were given shuffled cards and a maximum time of 5 minutes was allotted to memorize the arrangement of the pack composed of 52 cards. The contender with the fastest time for memorizing bagged the medal.

Abrina said one does not need to be a genius to qualify in the memory sports competition. But a lot of determination, discipline and practice are required.   

“Number one doon is attention. If you give full attention sa mga bagay na inaaral natin o ginagawa natin, there is likelihood na maalala natin ang mga ginagawa natin. You also have to use your imagination and visualization a lot,” said Abrina.
 
Other categories in the memory championships included 15 Minute Abstract Images, 30 Minute Binary, 15 Minute Names and Faces, 5 Minute Numbers, 30 Minute Cards, 15 Minute Words, 30 Minute Numbers, 5 Minute Historic Dates and Sound Test For Spoken Numbers.  An overall champion was selected based accumulated points for all the disciplines.

Another Filipino in the memory tournament, Roberto Mangaran Racasa, also impressed world spectators when he memorized 3 decks of shuffled cards and replicated them perfectly in order and 768 digit binary numbers in 30 minutes, putting him in the league of players who can display that extraordinary skill.
 
"This proves once again that the Filipino can be on a par with the world's best memory athletes. With ample training and preparation we can even become world champions," said 34-year-old Racasa, a former Polytechnic University of the Philippines (PUP) top chess player.

In his teenage years, Racasa was a ‘Kristo’ in a cockpit arena in his locality. He said it was a good training for his memory.  A kristo is the bet-taker in cockfighting.

Contest arbiter Frank Wedde compares Abrina’s cards arrangement with shuffled cards as coach Marlon Bernardino looks on/Rose Eclarinal, ABS-CBN Europe News Bureau

“Kasi pag Kristo ka, yung mga tao kasi dun araw araw mo nakikita so palagi mong maalala. Yun sa numbers naman, practice lang,” he said.
 
To excel in this sport, Racasa said it is important to adopt a memory system, like associating numbers to images.

A lot of trainings for the different disciplines are also crucial.  

“Sobrang nahirapan ako sa abstract images. Kasi sa abstract may possible combination of 48 million. Nahirapan kami kasi wala kaming preparation for that,” he said.

Memory sports in RP

While other countries have carved a mark in world memory competitions, the Philippines is just taking its first baby steps in the field of memory sports. It has yet to establish a local governing body under the World Memory Sports Council (WMSC), the independent governing body of the mind sport of memory which also manages the World Memory Championships.

“Malaking achievement itong kay Abrina kasi itong event na ito di kilalala sa Pilipinas. May nakilala ba tayong atleta na sa unang laro  niya nakakuha ng silver medal at nakakuha pa ng Grandmaster Norm. Sana pagbalik natin sa Pilipinas, tulungan po tayo ng gobyerno,” said Marlon Bernardino, the delegation’s head and coach.  

Although it was Abrina’s first ever competition in the memory sports, he said he welcomed it and was open to what he could learn to improve his technique.

“Yung mga rookie mistakes, ‘yun ang pwede naming baguhin sa mga na-experience namin dito,” Abrina said.  

He also explained that he only started training himself in various fields of the competition some 2 years ago. With his experience in the UK Open Memory Championships, he is willing to share his knowledge and newly-acquired techniques so that younger Filipinos who wish to do extremely well in this sport are give a solid, ground-up training.   

“I’m hoping that after this, we could teach younger people to develop the skills for this sport,” he added.

One of the all-time memory greats and first World Memory Champion Dominic O’Brien encourages the Philippines to take this sport seriously. He sees a Filipino world champion in the future considering the importance the country gives to education.  

“In 1991, the World Memory Championships just consisted of 7 adults and I was one. Now we have thousands of people around the world taking part. This is not elitist at all and we have people from a wide range of backgrounds. We have taxi drivers, lawyers, students, professionals, an 11–year old boy. Age does not come into it, background doesn’t come into,” said O’Brien who is now president of UK Memory Sports Council.

“The best route is through schools. Form a club, memory clubs and forming your own National Memory Council,” he added.
 

Speed Cards Category where Johann Randall Abrina won silver medal/Rose Eclarinal, ABS-CBN Europe News Bureau

Tips from world record holders

Reigning World Memory Champion, World Memory Number One and current holder of 6 official world records, Ben Pridmore congratulated the Philippine delegates for their performance.

Pridmore was also proclaimed the overall winner in the 2010 UK Open International Championships.

Asked what tips he could give Pinoys who may want to follow his mental footsteps, he said, "We just turn whatever information in front of us--rows of numbers or packs of cards-- into pictures of people and objects. We make visible stories out of them and we visualize these people and objects at different points along the mental journey.”

“There is a science there. It’s all about using your powerful imagination, making links between those information and turning information to colorful pictures,” said O’Brien.

Record Distance for travel

Twenty-two contestants from 15 countries like the UK, Poland, Turkey, Slovenia, Italy, Sweden, Ireland, Netherlands, Germany, Philippines, USA, Lithuania, among others, took part in the UK Open.

Recognized for travelling 6,850 miles to battle with the world’s best memories, the Philippines was also given ‘record distance’ for its  longest travel and first-time entry in the event.                     

The two-day UK Open International Memory Championships was held in MWB Business Exchange in Paddington, London on 26-27 August.

Abrina and Racasa are set to advance to the World Memory Championships on December 1-6 in Guangzhou, China.