Rohan Rao

Rohan Rao, who goes by the name vopani, is an Indian sudoku and puzzle solver, widely considered as the best sudoku solver of India. He is the reigning National Sudoku Champion and Times National Sudoku Champion. Rao has won 16 national championships and has been one of the best Indians at the World Sudoku Championship (WSC), World Puzzle Championship (WPC) and Asian Sudoku Championship (ASC). He won the Indian Sudoku Championship seven times, in 2010, 2011, 2012, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, the Indian Puzzle Championship five times, in 2010, 2011, 2012, 2015, 2017. and the Times National Sudoku Championship four times, in 2012, 2015, 2016, 2019.

Rao was ranked 23rd after WSC 2019 and 39th after WPC 2019. He stood 8th in the World Sudoku Championship 2012 to become the first Indian to be ranked in the top-10 in the World in Sudoku. He stood 3rd at the Asian Sudoku Championship 2018 to become the first Indian to finish on the podium of an international WPF Sudoku Championship. He finished 3rd again at ASC 2019 and improved his performance with a 2nd-place finish at ASC 2020.

He was the Director of the World Sudoku Championship 2017 and core organizer of World Sudoku and Puzzle Championship (WSPC) 2017 held in October, 2017 in Bengaluru, India. As part of his puzzling career, Rao has authored and organized various puzzle and sudoku championships, events and workshops across India and the world.

Indian Sudoku Championship (ISC)

Rao won his first ISC title in 2010, beating veteran solvers Ritesh Gupta (3-time and defending champion), Rishi Puri and Gaurav Korde in the finals and since then has won six more times, making him the most successful player at the ISC.

He finished on the podium for 10 consecutive years (2010-2019), a remarkable feat considering no other player has finished on the podium for more than 3 consecutive years.

Indian Puzzle Championship (IPC)

Rao won his first IPC title in 2010, pipping veteran solver Rajesh Kumar and since then has won four more times, matching Kumar's tally of 5 IPC titles.

Asian Sudoku Championship (ASC)

ASC was first held in 2018 where Rao stood 3rd. He finished on the podium for three consecutive years with his 3rd-place in 2019 and 2nd-place in 2020.

National Championships

16 Gold, 6 Silver, 6 Bronze

Ranks in the Indian Puzzle Championship (IPC), Indian Sudoku Championship (ISC) and Times Sudoku Championship (TSC)

Asian Championships

3 ASC Appearances

Ranks in the Asian Sudoku Championship (ASC)

World Championships

11 WSC Appearances, 11 WPC Appearances

Ranks in the World Sudoku Championship (WSC), World Puzzle Championship (WPC)