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 Indian Sudoku Champion and Times of India Sudoku Champion. Rao has won 18 national championships, an all-time record, 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 nine times, in 2010, 2011, 2012, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021 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 3rd in ASC 2021, 23rd in WSC 2019 and 39th in 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 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. Provided by Wikipedia