Chess, quiz & football: Comed-K toppers' keys to success

Mayank Baranwal from Delhi Public School (South) was ecstatic when he learnt that he had topped the Under Graduate Entrance Test (UGET) conducted by the Consortium of Medical, Engineering and Dental Colleges of Karnataka (Comed-K). He scored 165 marks out of 180.

He thanked his parents for their support. His father is an engineer at Accenture and his mother is a teacher at Kumaran school. Baranwal wants to study computer science in one of the top three Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs).

Viswajit Prakash Hegde, who hails from Sirsi, Uttara Kannada, bagged the second rank by scoring 164 marks. Hegde studied at Deeksha Center for Learning and scored 590 out of 600 in II PUC. A state-level chess player, he said playing the game since a young age had helped him keep his mind sharp. He is still undecided on what he wants to do in engineering. “I like both computer science and electrical and electronics engineering. So, it is a little hard to decide but whichever stream I choose I would like to study at IIT Madras,” he said. His father is a businessman and mother a homemaker.

Rudrapatna Vallabh Ramakanth studied +12 at Sri Kumaran, Kanakapura Road, and is awaiting the results to be announced by CBSE on Sunday. But, as of now, the family is happy because Vallabh has secured the third rank in the ComedK exam. He aims to study either electronics and communications or mechanical engineering. An avid quizzer, he recently came second in the TCS IT Quiz. His mother is a software engineer while his father works in Qatar.

Siddhartha C V, who is a student at Deeksha Center for Learning, scored 576 in II PUC and bagged the fourth rank in the Comed-K exam. He is into football and basketball. He is targeting the top IITs. “Football and basketball helped me keep fresh after all the long hours of studying,” he said. He  wants to study computer science or mechanical engineering.

Sahana N, also a student at Deeksha, secured the fifth rank. She scored 594 in II PUC and said she focused on the studies only in the past couple of months. Although she aspires to do something in physics — her favourite subject — she does not mind mechanical engineering either. She has an interest in playing the veena and basketball. Her father works for Deutsche Bank and her mother is a homemaker.